


The Taming of the Tiger

by fabricdragon



Series: Odyssey [6]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe, Anal, Anal Fingering, BDSM, Captivity, Chains, Conditioning, Crimes & Criminals, Dark, Dark Jim, Dark Sebastian, F/M, Flashbacks, Flogging, Gangs, Happy Ending, Homophobic Language, Imprisonment, Internalized Homophobia, Interrogation, Knifeplay, M/M, Memories, Military, Military Backstory, Misogyny, Not Beta Read, Not Safe Sane and Consensual, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Sebastian Moran, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Pre-Canon, Rape, Rape/Non-con Elements, SERIOUSLY watch for TW in chapter headings, Safewords, Sexist Language, Sleep Deprivation, Stockholm Syndrome, Triggers, Unreliable Narrator, Violet Wand, What Was I Thinking?, Why Did I Write This?, disscussions of good BDSM, i guess, this isnt it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-11-04 19:53:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 27
Words: 49,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10997853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/fabricdragon
Summary: I was asked what my head canon was for how Sebastian Moran ended up working for Jim Moriarty in my Odyssey series. This is my answer. so the events in THIS story are "pre-canon", taking place BEFORE "Unwanted Attention"In this series  Sebastian Moran is a dark and complex character, with serious issues (Sadism, rape, etc, despite apparently being sociable to some people)  and believe it or not? he used to be worse, much, much, worse. This story covers how Jim Moriarty "tamed" the Tiger.IT IS NOT REQUIRED READING FOR THE SERIES, though you can "see" elements that happen later having their roots here.ALL TRIGGER WARNINGS APPLY!





	1. Captive Tiger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mickie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mickie/gifts).



Sebastian found his mind drifting, thoughts scattering in and out of focus.  He’d heard it said your life passed in front of your eyes when you were dying; it had never happened before, but maybe  that was because this time he was not only certain he was going to die, he was sort of looking forward to it. 

*

Sebastian Moran, son of Lord Augustus Moran, got quietly kicked out of school, again. His father decided to punish him by sending him into a military style school–Sebastian loved it.  Sure, the hazing was hell, but once he got his feet under him he was one of the top dogs, just like before.  The schedule was a pain, but once you learned it you always knew when you could get away with things. The only drawback was that there wasn’t a girl within miles. Still, it gave him ideas for the future, and he’d applied himself to military skills with enthusiasm.  He joined the Army straight after.

His father was publicly proud–his son was following in the footsteps of the sons of royalty and serving his country– and privately annoyed. Military school was supposed to have been a punishment, not a career idea.  Sebastian thought pissing off his old man in a way he couldn’t do anything about was glorious.  It was such a wonderful thing to watch his father fuming as his friends congratulated him on his son’s entry into the service. 

Sebastian announced that he had to turn in early, “Military schedule you know,” he nodded crisply, “and I’m off to training first thing.”

He was changed into casual wear and out the window of his room within minutes, down at a pub in the dirtier section of town shortly after that, and spotting some likely girl soon after.  He had her in the back of the pub, with her ineffectual struggling and trying to push him away only making it that much sweeter. He licked the tears off of her face while she cringed against the wall and there was nothing better in the world.

He was back before anyone knew he was gone, and off to the Army in the morning. If his father ever put him together with the rape down in the town, what of it?  Everyone knew it couldn’t have been him.  Fine upstanding fellow, safe in his bed, and off to the military at the crack of dawn? He couldn’t possibly have been the fellow out drinking at the pub and having his way with the girl, leaving her with a fear of tall boys and dark alleys and bruises that took weeks to fade– he caught up on his missing sleep on the train.

He’d thought the Army would be boring until he got sent out somewhere, but he was so, so wrong. One of the lads in basic was all kinds of a trouble-maker; the sergeant only had to hint about a blanket party and Sebastian just nodded and gave the man a look that said “It’ll be taken care of, Sir.”  He had to tell the other lads what to do, but they joined in with enthusiasm having been on shit detail far too often due to this fellow’s attitude.  Sebastian had to show them the trick with a bar of soap in a sock– it made a dandy club.  He tried to complain, but hey, with a blanket over your head who can identify anyone?

Sebastian was top of everything, especially shooting, and the darling of his sergeants.  He was stronger, and tougher, and better, than almost anyone else, and he brought in the top marksmanship scores.  They sent him to compete in a showpiece as a trainee, and he beat them all except the real snipers.  One day he’d have that patch on his uniform, and the SAS status. 

Sebastian was the picture perfect solider, all tall and lean, blonde hair and blue eyes.  The officer who escorted the recruits to the competition took them all out to a bar to celebrate, after, and he had a girl over a table in the back room.  She was beautiful and eager and he had a good time, but there was something missing, it felt empty and flat– like an ordinary pint after you’d gotten a taste for the good stuff.

*

Pain flashed across his body, and Sebastian slowly opened his eyes.  He’d gone past spitting curses and threats at his tormentor some time ago, now he just looked dully at him.  If he was very, very lucky, he’d die soon- he didn’t think he’d be that lucky.

“I wonder how you’d look with piercings?” his tormentor walked around him and dragged a bare hand across his chest and back.  It hurt badly as his sweat was dragged across the open wounds. He didn’t bother to try to move, it was taking all his energy to keep his weight on his feet and off his wrists chained overhead.

“Down on your knees, now.” The words didn’t even make sense until he heard the motor, and felt the chain holding his wrists relax.  Not long ago he would have lunged for the man, now he just sank gratefully to his knees.

“So, you CAN be trained.  Took you long enough, Tiger.”

Sebastian flinched. Tiger… he was a caged tiger, now. Chained and tormented and probably soon to be parts.  He idly wondered if his tormentor kept trophies.

*

He’d been on duty forever, it felt like.  Sighting down the scope, waiting until everything was perfect and taking the shot– it was almost too easy.  He and some of the other men took to making it more challenging; only hitting certain places, certain ways.  He usually won the bets and the target pools. He didn’t like admitting it, but he was bored. 

The only thing that made it a bit more enjoyable was the occasional sport with civilians.  Some of the locals were willing enough, but it always lacked something–he preferred something livelier.  Most of the local girls, once they knew what was going on, never even put up a fight. It got to be too dull for him. Eventually he started looking for the ones that would struggle, and fight, or cry.

Things changed when one of his superior officers called him in. Sebastian was pretty sure he was going to get in trouble when he saw a few of the government advisors in the office, too, but instead it was the best thing that could have happened.  They wanted him to help transport some of the captured prisoners.  They made it very clear that as long as the prisoners arrived alive, and able to answer questions, anything he wanted to do was fine by them.

The other men on his detail were stupid, and simple compared to him–apparently too many prisoners arrived either obviously injured, or more determined to hold out.  Sebastian just grinned and started showing them tricks he’d learned in boarding school. The other men weren’t much interested in raping a man unless he was very pretty–luckily several of them were- but Sebastian found that what he loved more than anything was taking the proud ones down a peg.  Even if they weren’t pretty, if they held themselves like they were superior or looked down on him, Sebastian made a point of having a nice long time pulled over on the side of the road, while he enjoyed himself. Once or twice he even got called in to get reacquainted in a prison cell-apparently he was convincing.

*

He’d had his arms re-chained behind his back–they were hooked to the floor.  Some distant part of his mind had to admire the setup, just a few bolted in rings here and there, and one overhead winch– nothing fancy– but he was hurting, and hungry, and thirsty.  He hadn’t been able to sleep in ages, hanging from his wrists; he suspected he wasn’t going to get any sleep now, either. If this was back in the military, or in one of the unofficial prisons, there would have been guards to control him… _I haven’t seen anyone but him_ , he realized.

“Oooh, still a bit of fight left?” His Tormentor sung out at him– he must have jerked or something.

He shook his head and tried to keep his head down.

“Want a drink of water?”

That brought his head up fast.  His tormentor was holding a bottle of water, smiling over it.  There was something familiar about his eyes, but Sebastian couldn’t place them.  He tried to say something but his tongue stuck in his mouth.

“Let’s see if a sip or two loosens your tongue, eh Tiger?” he came forward slowly and gave him a sip. Sebastian hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until the water hit his tongue.  The man took it away after half a bottle.

“Let’s try that again, shall we? Would you like a drink of water?”

He managed something intelligible on the third try, “yes.”

“I know you were military, Tiger, is that how you ask for something?”

He stared at him, trying to make his brain work.  The man kicked him in his ribs, “Would you like a drink of water?”

“Yes–Yes, Sir.” Sebastian gasped out, lying on the floor.

“Back up on your knees, Tiger.”

He managed, somehow. He got the rest of the bottle of water and the man walked away.  Sebastian knelt there, his mind blank; when he saw the man’s shoes again he cringed.

“Would you like another drink?”

“Yes, Sir.” He didn’t hesitate, didn’t have the energy to put any sarcasm in it either.

“I can be very, very nice, Tiger, but you have to earn it.” the man held another bottle to his lips and gave him a sip.  Sweet, faintly oily… his mind finally registered the old flavor of electrolyte drinks.  They always said when it tasted good you really needed it– this was the best tasting drink he’d ever had.

 


	2. Discharged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why he got discharged, and getting collared

Sebastian woke up– that’s when he realized he’d been allowed to sleep.  Someone was touching him and he jerked away, or tried to. His hands were still chained behind his back, and his legs were still chained to the ring in the floor–there wasn’t very far he could go.

“Do you want something to drink, Tiger?”

He looked up at the man and now that he’d had some sleep memories poured back. “This time I won’t leave you alive,” he growled at him.

“Ah, that’s better, you remember me? I was starting to worry about you.” The man laughed.  His name was Jimmy?  He’d been called Jimmy anyway.  “Last time I’ll ask for a while, do you want something to drink?”

Sebastian thought about it and decided that survival took priority, “Yes… Sir.”

“Gotta love a military man,” he said with a smirk.  He held the bottle to Sebastian’s lips and helped him drink. Electrolytes again. Sebastian was calculating angles, and how to get the man down and break his neck when he had a second bottle put to his lips– this time it was a thick creamy liquid with a faintly gritty edge.  He must have made a questioning noise, because his captor laughed and said, “Meal replacement shake.  You haven’t had any food in quite a while; I wouldn’t want you to faint.”

“I’m going to–” Sebastian’s growl was cut off by a surprisingly gentle finger to his lips.

“If you finish that statement Tiger, I might be forced to punish you, and you wouldn’t want that.”

 _What the fuck?_ He was sputtering something when the fellow stepped back and said brightly, “Up on your knees again, Tiger.”

“Fuck you!”

“Tsk.” He shook his head and a motor sound started. Sebastian felt his arms being pulled up behind his back. 

 _Shit, that’ll rip my arms out of their sockets_!  He scrambled as best as he could to get to his feet and failed. The motor stopped with his hands painfully pulled up.

“Easy, Tiger, easy, just roll over and get up on your knees… there’s a good boy.”

He gritted his teeth and got up onto his knees, the position of his arms forced his head down.  The motor whirred briefly as his arms were pulled up just a bit more.

“Now stay.”

Sebastian watched as the man’s feet went away and he came back with something that clanked and rattled–more chains. When he got close enough Sebastian surged to his feet, taking the stress off his arms, he could knock him down and get the keys–

Little bastard had a cattle prod.

*

He’d been discharged.  They couldn’t put him on trial–all he’d have to do was talk about some of his extra orders, after all– but one of the men had talked to some human rights observer, and no matter how sorry some of his superiors were to let him go  they had to get this hushed up. They threw a lot of blame around, demoted everyone a rank, and discharged him. 

His boss quietly passed him the contact information for some special government offices that hired a lot of their boys. Apparently illegal questioning went on in all sorts of places you didn’t expect–like London. He contacted them when he got back home, and a fellow named Mitchell bought him dinner, agreed he was just the sort they were looking for….

… And said they needed to let the news get old before they could hire him.

Fuck.

Well, his income was next to nothing, he for DAMN sure wasn’t moving back home with his father, and he had to stay away from the press–and any criminal charges– for a while before the  government would dirty their hands on him again.

He was drinking in a bar, thinking about how shitty his life had gotten, when some damned assholes came in and started roughing people up. He was inclined to stay out of it until one of the bastards shot him this sneering look and made a comment about the military drunk…

A few minutes later he found himself with a bit of help dragging the badly broken bodies out the back alley door, and a job offer. Seemed there was a bit of an underworld turf fight going on and they were hiring…

*

He had been hanging, arms up behind his back, only able to relieve the strain on his arms by pushing up on his toes, for three hours.  He’d been counting in his head.  Son-of-a-bitch had said “three hours or until you damage yourself, whichever comes first.” _Well? Just proves…_

He heard the door open and saw the little bastard’s shoes. “Would you like to be let down?”

“Yes…Sir.” _Rhymes with cocksucker and sounds like I’ll kill you._

“Are you going to behave?”

“Yes, Sir.” If he gritted his teeth any harder they’d crack.

The asshole dragged a mat over.  It looked like a plastic covered foam mat you’d see in kids’ schools.  Sebastian was trying to figure that one out when the winch let him down. Any thoughts of  trying to take the fellow out  were lost as his arms resumed screaming with the lack of strain, his shoulders actually burning… and his legs collapsed.

He blinked slowly with the realization that he was lying face first into the plastic coated mat.

“If I hadn’t put the mat there, Tiger, you would have probably cracked both your knees, and broken that pretty face of yours.”

Sebastian wanted to kill him but all he could manage was lying there in a heap as the fucker rocked back and forth on his feet in front of Sebastian’s nose.

Very, very quietly he asked, “Aren’t you going to thank me, Tiger?”

Pride and sense fought a pitched battle in his head before sense won, barely, “Thank you, Sir.”

“Good boy.  I knew you were worth keeping around.”

“Why.  Why not just kill me?” he blurted it out before he could stop himself.

“I think I can make something out of you Tiger.  Now, behave and let me get your collar on, and you’ll get some food.” The clanking noise he’d heard before got a bit closer.

 _Collar? Oh fuck…_ he tried to scramble backwards, it didn’t really work.  His arms were useless and cuffed behind his back still anyway, and he lacked the strength to push up from his knees…

A firm hand landed on the back of his neck and pushed his face further down into the mat. “Stay.”

A cold metal band got worked around his neck, and he heard the click of a lock.  He must have been as weak as a kitten because the weight of the chain it was attached to felt heavy as sin.

“There.” He heard the man chuckle, “I’ll have you domesticated in no time.”

Sebastian snarled curses under his breath. “Did you say you weren’t interested in food, Tiger?”

He already felt sick and dizzy.  If he was going to survive he had to eat, and shit if he could handle another “punishment” right now… “I’m… sorry… Sir.”

“Good Tiger, now I’m going to sit you up…” he did, Sebastian’s muscles protested.  He gave him a bottle of electrolyte solution, and another meal shake.

After he’d finished it, the fellow wrinkled his nose, “Now you need a bath.”

He’d needed one for days, and a toilet.  He watched as his captor got a hose and attached it to  a utility sink against the wall.  “Now, if you’re a GOOD Tiger, you get warm water and a towel dry after.”

He just lowered his head. He didn’t have the energy to fight right now, anyway.

He got hosed off, thoroughly.  “Roll over,” and hosed again. When it seemed to be over, he just lay there. His mind was fuzzing out slowly, running on far too little food, too little sleep, too many injuries.  He barely registered the man locking the neck chain down tight to the floor.

“What?” he yanked back too late, now he couldn’t lift his head more than a few inches.

“Easy, there, Tiger.  Just changing out a few of your restraints.” He said in a soothing voice, and petted at his back.  It HURT to be touched there, his shoulder muscles protested.

“Aw… I’ll make it feel better, Tiger.” He said in that kindly sounding voice.  Sebastian felt his legs getting uncuffed, “Now Tiger, think… if you kick me? What happens?  So be smart and behave, right?”

He got hosed off some more. Sebastian gritted his teeth when he got hosed off between his legs– it hurt a bit, and he was pretty sure it was a precursor to raping him, it would only be fair.

Some kind of cream was getting rubbed on his ass and down his legs.  It was thick, and waxy feeling, and the fellow’s hands were places they REALLY shouldn’t be… but it took the raw feeling out of his skin, and soothed some sores he hadn’t realized he had. He groaned despite himself.

“Feels good, doesn’t it Tiger? All that peeing down your legs–among other things– does a number on your skin, but this’ll fix it right up.” He slid his hand up and started coating Sebastian’s dick with the stuff.  Sebastian gritted his teeth harder and tried to pretend it didn’t feel damn good.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter may end up being expanded.


	3. choices and consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I re-iterate, Sebastian was a VERY unpleasant guy before he was captured.  
> and Jim is VERY very good at breaking people, BUT! this is years before the main timeline, so his techniques are a bit rougher.

Running enforcement for a gang wasn’t that much different than some of the simpler jobs he’d had for the interrogation side of things in the military:  Beat people up, break people.  Usually they didn’t want anyone dead, but sometimes they did and when they did they usually wanted throats cut. Sebastian was bored as hell, but it was a paycheck and people were afraid of him.  The gang boss gave him pretty much blank credit with the whores, but… Jesus, a guy has some pride.

He took his fun with the girls in the other gangs’ businesses, when they needed to send a message. Sometimes they were working girls, sometimes just some girl unlucky enough to be there who caught his eye. He was getting edgy, because he really didn’t… get exciting… with them.  He was just counting time and keeping his head down until he could get work for the government again.

It all exploded one day when some twink in one of his boss’s nightclubs mouthed off at him.  He dragged him in back and enjoyed himself while teaching the little shit a lesson he’d never forget.  His boss was pissed at him, and it was just lucky that the guy could be quietly pushed off a dock.  His boss made such a fuss that he came pretty damn close to having Sebastian take him out, too; he probably realized that because he backed off.  After that they let him get answers out of some people, and it helped him blow off steam. His boss looked the other way if it was the other guy’s whores, too, as long as it wasn’t anyone they wanted to pick up.

*

Lie down, get his collar clipped to the floor, get cleaned up, fed, and petted like a damn cat.   When the little bastard was done Sebastian would get  his collar unclipped and then he’d go back to pacing around the center of the cell– he’d had his ankles put on a hobble chain, he could walk or do sit ups but  with the length of chain he was attached to he couldn’t reach the walls. It had become a routine, very quickly. 

He really did treat Sebastian like a pet Tiger.  He acted like petting him was something Sebastiian enjoyed–and Sebastian would sooner chew his own tongue off than admit that the bastard had good hands– and talked to him like he was a feral cat he was taming. Every now and then Sebastian really thought about it–realized he’d gotten used to it– and then he’d argue or put up a struggle, but it never got him anything but punished. The bastard’s favorite punishment was to pull him up almost off his feet by his arms and leave him. There really was no point in fighting that because all you did was pull your arms half off.

After some amount of time, and he really had no idea how much, he lost his temper and cursed the bastard out when he came in with the extra padlock for his collar chain and told him to lie down.

“I held you down and fucked you before, you jacked up rent boy–” Sebastian went off at him …The bastard just stood there looking at him with an amused look, which just infuriated Sebastian more. Every bit of frustration, anger and fear came pouring out…

Eventually, panting, “–And after I’m done I’ll stuff your severed dick down your throat, you smug–” Sebastian devolved into Pashto for lack of emphasis in English– the bastard at least reacted to that, but mostly by looking vaguely impressed.

“Are you done?” he inquired curiously after Sebastian stood there breathing hard for a few seconds.

Sebastian just glared at him.  He stood there waiting–today his hands were chained in front of him at least.

“If I hung you up long enough to punish you for that, you’d tear your shoulders out, you know.”

“You were going to eventually.”

“No, no, I’m not.  I take better care of my things, Tiger, but you do have to be punished for that.”  He stood there tapping a finger against his teeth for a bit. “Hands up, Tiger.”

Without thinking much he raised his hands over his head, resigned. The winch started up and pulled up the slack in the chain, and then stopped, he still had his weight firmly on his feet. “What?”

“Good Boy.” The bastard smirked at him. “Now, let’s see if we can’t teach you to mind your tongue a bit better, Hmm?” Sebastian glared at him.

He walked over to the closet– the only thing Sebastian KNEW was in there was the hose, although he assumed some of the other things were as well– Sebastian deliberately took refuge in his memories…

*

He’d been on leave, during his second tour of duty and a girl caught his eye.  She was wearing clothes that screamed “fuck me” and Sebastian kept making it clear he wanted to, but she just flirted a bit and never got serious.  Sebastian kept his eye on her in case she left alone, but there were other girls, after all. Since he was keeping an eye on her, though, he noticed when the guy chatting her up dropped something in her drink… now that’s interesting…

Sebastian followed them out, with her teetering on her heels and him steering her along to a flat near the club.  He watched them go in, and which lights went on. He pulled on his gloves and quietly picked the lock on the door.  The lock on the apartment door wasn’t any better and he was slipping in no time.

She was making quiet little protest noises from the bedroom– Sebastian made his way over  and looked– he had her up against the wall, peeling her clothes off.  She could barely stand up.  Eventually the guy shoved her down on the bed. Sebastian watched through the mostly closed bedroom door with amusement– guy didn’t seem inclined to use a condom, idiot.

He watched the guy get his fuck in, while she mostly whimpered and slurred protests, and as soon as he looked like he might finish, Sebastian reached in and turned off the lights.

The advantages of military training, and boarding school; he’d measured the room, he knew where everything was, lights out didn’t bug him even slightly.

He’d had his condom on, already, and he fucked the guy in the ass and held him down while he was still inside the girl. He only had to cuff him a few times and he just lay there and begged– damn pansy, no wonder he had to drug a girl, probably couldn’t even hold her down himself. It was the best of both worlds, he could feel her up, and she cried when he twisted her nipple, and when he slammed into the guy he was fucking them both.

*

Sebastian came back to himself with a pain across the back of his knees. His knees buckled and he hissed.

“I asked you a question, Tiger, I expect your attention.”

He’d put Sebastian’s ankles into a spreader bar this time, and clipped that to the floor again. “Sorry… Sir.” _I was just remembering better days…_

“Do I need to repeat my question?”

“Yes… Sir…”

“Ask nicely.”

“Please repeat your question, Sir.”

“You have a choice of punishment, which do you want: Fire or water?”

 _Uh oh…_ “Aren’t you going to just hang me up again?”

“Honestly Tiger, no… I really am starting to worry about your rotator cuff. Fire? Or Water?”  He walked around and tilted Sebastian’s chin toward him with something that looked like a magic wand.  _Oh, flexible plastic with a handle, that’s what he hit me with– fucker stung._ He found himself looking down into those pretty brown eyes that looked so deceptively soft. “Pick or you get both.”

He thought about waterboarding, and shuddered, but at least it didn’t leave lasting scars. “Water, Sir.”

He nodded. “Down on your knees, head down, you know the routine.”

The winch relaxed and he went down on the mat. It was a lot more awkward with his legs fastened apart like that.  He had his collar clipped down and the fellow went back to the closet. He saw what looked like the bottom of a janitors cart go by, and wondered if he’d get a chance to get loose when he re fastened him.  He started bracing to take advantage of any slips…

“Tiger? Whatever do you think you’re doing?”

“Lying here, sir?”

“Well, you’re lying, alright.” He sounded amused again.  He dragged the tip of his quirt over Sebastian’s back. “It will be a LOT less painful if you just tell me, you know.”

“Waiting for you to re-fasten me, Sir.”

“re-fasten you? Why would I do that?”

“Uh... you can’t water board someone like this…”

He honest to God giggled… “Oh.”

Sebastian heard water running and things being moved around. After a while he put his hand on Sebastian’s collar and crouched down next to him.

“Now, you do understand that you brought this on yourself, right?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“And you could be living a much more comfortable life, with a real bed, and clothing, and real food…”

“If  hadn’t run into you, maybe, or if I’d killed you when I had the chance.” Sebastian growled.

A thin plastic rod pressed uncomfortably up into his throat. “Sir.” Prompted the little bastard.

“If I’d killed you when I had the chance… Sir.”

“Well you didn’t.” he said, petting him. “So now the only way you get any of those things is if you make me happy.”

 _Wait… that was new? I could get…_ Sebastian shook his head and tried to remember his counter interrogation classes. “And what, exactly, do I have to do to get all of that, Sir?” he was still growling, he was sure of it.

“First you take your punishment.  You tried to threaten me, and you were rude. I don’t WANT to have to punish you, Tiger, but you can’t get away with bad behavior.  You were military, you understand. Discipline can’t go by the wayside, after all.”

“No, Sir.”

“Now, do you think you can mind your tongue during your punishment? Or should I gag you so you don’t get punished anymore?”

Sebastian thought about it, really thought about it. “You better gag me, sir.”

He put a very thorough gag in Sebastian’s mouth and buckled it around his head.  He looked at him very kindly. “Good choice, I think. You see, I don’t WANT to punish you, Tiger.  If you can’t mind your tongue it’s much better to ask for a gag. I promise you I’ll give you one.”

And God DAMN it if he wasn’t feeling grateful.

 The little bastard got up and was messing around behind him with water sounds and things moving. “I’m not waterboarding you, Sebastian.”

_You’re…not…? What the hell else could he be doing?_

“Rather the other end…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, not proof read as my husband has been too ill. i will correct these as i can


	4. Pounce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian met Jim under rather different circumstances...
> 
> TW as always for non con, violence, etc

Sometimes being a sniper just meant patiently laying on a roof top or something, waiting for the shot.  Sometimes it meant sitting in a blind for hours, or days while you waited for your target. Sometimes it meant risking your health, unable to eat or drink anything in baking heat and freezing cold, and lying in your own piss because you couldn’t move while insects ate you alive.

_Those were good days, I miss them._

Instead he was chained to the floor, guts filled full of water–he hoped it was water– with a vibrating butt plug locked into his ass, sending shocks through his body that were  utterly horrible. The damn bastard had given him an enema, or something, literally filled him with water until he felt bloated and horrible anyway, and then every vibration was being magnified by the water.  He’d waited until Sebastian was out of his head in agony, taken the gag out… and then…he … just… walked… out.

_I’d thought he was going to water-board me? I should have been so lucky._

Some screaming eternity later the vibrations stopped. It actually took him a bit to realize, or maybe it took a while for the water to settle inside him. He lifted his head out of the puke enough to see familiar shoes and whined.

“What a mess you are, Tiger.”

“Please, stop… I’ll do anything, please… go back to hanging me up by my arms, I’m begging you.” it all just tumbled out.

“Apologize and then we’ll talk.”

“I am VERY, VERY, sorry, Sir!” at that moment he was, he didn’t remember what for, but he was sorry!

“I didn’t want to have to punish you, Sebastian,” he was getting the hose out; Sebastian just prayed it was for the outside of him. “I had really hoped to bring you a present, but you have to be a GOOD pet to get presents.” He unclipped his collar so he could move his head out of the puke.

Sebastian started to say something and Jim “shushed” him, “I’m taking the plug out, so try to relax.”

His muscles were locked tight, it HURT and then he was doubled over as much as the chains would allow as his cramping guts unloaded.

*

He’d had food poisoning, along with half of his class.  They’d been celebrating a sports victory and apparently the buffet had been sitting in the warmer too long, or something. The whole team was down–except for Riley, the bastard– and he’d puked his guts up in the infirmary until he’d had to get an IV.

They ended up with a big investigation; the team hadn’t been able to finish the season, and he spent three days in the hospital. He’d been sick as a dog for a week, and hadn’t been able to look at a lot of foods–pretty much anything they’d had on the buffet– for months.  He hadn’t even noticed that the nurse was pretty, or the new French teacher when he got back, or anything.  He’d never been sick like that before, or since…

*

_Until now._

“Just kill me.” He finally managed to gasp.

“Are you done puking?” he asked in his cheerful voice, “if so I can start hosing you off.”

Sebastian actually turned his head into the spray, glad to get the puke off.  He twitched a lot when his back end got hosed, but his captor just kept making soothing noises. “Easy, Tiger, punishments over. You learned your lesson, right?”

“Yes! Yes, Sir.”

“So just bend over and let me clean you off and I’ll be right back with the towel… Get up on your elbows, Sebastian, on all fours…” he hosed him over and under. When he finished hosing him off he told him to “stay”.

Sebastian stayed. He would have stayed until he fainted– God forbid the bastard punished him any more– but he came back shortly with a towel and dried him off.  The towel was warm and it wasn’t until he was wrapped up in it and the bastard was petting his hair that it suddenly crossed Sebastian’s mind…

He’s in range… and only my ankles are locked down.

He lunged and knocked him over.  He had him pinned underneath him and the chain to his wrists wrapped around the bastard’s neck before he could trigger the winch.

*

His boss wanted to take out some competing crime boss that had been making inroads into his turf, so Sebastian was playing big obvious guard during a meeting.  The meeting was ostensibly about a truce, but really so Sebastian and a few of the guards could get a good look at the other guy, and then follow him and get rid of him.  The other guy showed up with a bunch of typical guards, and his accountant–nice looking guy, soft around the edges, pretty brown eyes.  His name was Jimmy or something, and he was there to talk numbers. He put forward what sounded like a good deal, actually. After the meeting Sebastian suggested his boss take it, but… nope.

_Eh, my job was killing things, not making business decisions._

They followed the other boss, or rather one of the other people did, and then the rest of them caught up to him that night at a warehouse.  It was kind of trite, actually, having a gang fight in between pillars and boxes in an old warehouse with peeling paint.  Sebastian lost two of his men, but they lost all of theirs– sad about his two guys but they weren’t really military or anything, just  ordinary gang enforcers; still, they were his men, and he ordered the rest of his guys to make sure their bodies got  back to get buried before they set fire to the place.

Sebastian set the delayed fuses on the accelerant– bless the military you did learn how to blow things up and kill people– and checked over the bodies. No sign of the numbers guy, but everyone else was accounted for.  He thought wistfully about a soft voice begging and those pretty brown eyes full of panic, and sighed.

Sebastian let his men go home, a couple of them taking the bodies, and went out for a stroll. He was all wired up after the job, but it hadn’t taken the edge off… maybe he could find a girl?  He walked for a while– lousy neighborhood, no whores, nothing. He ducked into a pub– the news was just reporting the fire– and damned if he didn’t see the accountant looking furious at the telly and slipping out the back…

Sebastian grinned and went after him.

He moved surprisingly well for a soft looking guy, but nothing like a Tiger on the hunt.  Sebastian ghosted up behind him and took him down hard before he could get to lights, or crowds. Sebastian hauled him off to a better spot.

He came to and struggled briefly. Sebastian held him down and punched him– he went still. He wasn’t trying to scream, and he’d stopped struggling too soon…

“Not going to fight me? You like it rough, faggot?” Sebastian shook him a little.

“You’re a lot stronger than I am: I don’t want to be hurt. No, I really don’t.” His voice was soft, and quiet, and surprisingly calm.

_You should be crying, or screaming, or whimpering or something._

Sebastian got out a zip tie and locked the guy’s hands behind his back, and then he ripped his pants off, keeping him pressed down.  He still didn’t struggle, just flinched when his pants got ripped off.

“I have lube and a condom in my pants pocket…” He said sort of hopefully

“What makes you think you get any?” Sebastian laughed.

“I rather expect you’d prefer to enjoy it and you don’t know where I’ve been, do you?”

Sebastian took the condom, but it was lubed, that was plenty, and he wanted to hear this guy scream, he was way too damn calm, it was creepy.

He slammed into him hard.  They guy had actually managed to relax some, but Sebastian wasn’t a small guy, and without lube, or prep, it had to hurt.  Sebastian had to listen closely to hear the man whimper.  He got angrier.  This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, the guy should be begging, crying, screaming, something!

He pulled out and slammed into him again. This time he heard the man choke on a scream.  He thrust in a few more times and finished up. This was the worst fuck he’d had! He slammed the guy’s face into the ground and got up.  _Fucking bastard, ruining his night like that…_

*

The accountant with the soft eyes was lying under him, a chain wrapped around his throat, looking up at him calmly– Sebastian felt the hair on the back of his neck go up… _He wasn’t frightened._

“You–”

“Before you say or do anything ELSE you’ll regret, Tiger, can I point out a few basic facts?”

Sebastian wanted to throttle him with the chain, but… _he wasn’t afraid… why wasn’t he afraid…_ Sebastian felt cold fear uncoiling at the base of his spine…

“Like what?” he tried to keep his voice level, he was pretty sure he failed.

“I don’t have the keys to your ankle or wrist restraints on me.  I only bring those in the room when I plan on changing out your restraints.”

“What?” Sebastian blinked at him, trying to make sense of it.

“The only lock, and the only key, that I keep on me, is the one that lets me clip your collar down.” He explained calmly. “The other keys are outside the room.”

Sebastian felt that cold dread work its way from the base of his spine up.  “I don’t believe you…” he whispered.

His captor pulled an electronic control out of his pocket and carefully slid it aside. “That’s the winch, Tiger. Go ahead and search me.”

Sebastian carefully uncoiled the chain, and, keeping him pinned down with his knees, started searching him.  Nothing.

“You can’t get lose without those keys, Tiger,” he smiled up at him, “And they are far outside the reach of your chains. If you don’t let me up… well, you can kill me, but starving to death in a basement would be a rather poor ending for you, don’t you think?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian only knows what he can perceive, that is not a statement on what Jim actually thinks, or feels


	5. To catch a Tiger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories, and treats.

Sebastian was frozen between wanting to murder his captor and wanting to live. There would have to be a better time… wouldn’t there? Another chance?

“You’ll kill me anyway.” Sebastian shut his eyes, he was so tired, _it had been such a wonderful dream, freedom…_

“No, Tiger.” He shook his head. “If I was going to kill you I would have done it a long time ago, not wasted so much effort on you. I don’t even want you permanently damaged, remember?”

All of the energy bled out of him. _I’m never getting out._

Sebastian collapsed. He lay there waiting for whatever was going to happen next.  He couldn’t muster enough energy to care when his captor slid out from under him and retrieved the winch controller, or when he got up and walked out the door.  He was back to just lying there, waiting without anticipation for whatever happened next.  He’d always thought hell would be different…

Hell was dark concrete walls, and chains on your wrists, and a blue plastic matt…

*

His boss had been happy with the results.  Sebastian idly mentioned that he’d run across the little accountant, and … well… if he wanted the fucker hauled out of that back alley, someone else could do it.

“Oh, you had a go at him?”

“Yeah. Little bastard was no fun at all. If you don’t need me boss, I’m gonna go find something worth fucking.”

“You go have fun!”

He got into a couple of bar fights, played some pool, found a few people to beat up, and generally blew off some steam.  It helped some. He found some little rent boy who screamed and begged… he had dark hair and dark eyes, and he cried like a first year student when the upperclassmen had their fun.  _That was more like it._

He was back to work after a couple of days. His boss was consolidating the territory, and some other gangs were trying to run off with pieces.  There was a lot of threats, and a bit of throat cutting, and once he even got to hold someone’s head under water until they wised up.  It was pretty lively for the next couple of months.

…

Then one of the top lads vanished.  At first everyone figured he’d gotten lucky and was off with some bird, but when he was gone over a day… well, that wasn’t like him. Everyone looked for him, and they started working over a few of the opposition boys, but no one had a clue. One of the competition must have cut his throat somewhere and dumped the body. Damned shame– he was one of the better lads.

His boss called him to a meeting about a week later, at one of the warehouses. “We’ve got a lead, and I need to talk to you about it.” he sounded tense. _Probably one of our own sold him out, then._

He’d walked in without the slightest hint there was a problem and it was only his combat reflexes that caused him to spin and strike out at the man who came up hard and fast behind him.  His boss yelled and he spun, only to see a dangerous looking guy with a knife to his boss’ throat.  He dove for cover…

…And the cover turned out to be a trap.

He was tangled in netting, suspended in midair before he knew what had hit him.  He felt a sharp stabbing pain in his leg and looked down to see a very familiar pair of brown eyes looking up at him.

“Set a tiger trap, to catch a Tiger…” he’d said, as the world slowly fuzzed and greyed out….

*

“Tiger? Sebastian?”

He eventually focused and looked at those familiar brown eyes looking back at him.  His collar had been clipped down and he hadn’t even noticed.

“…Yes, Sir?”

“Now, I’m willing to let your very GOOD decision to let me up immediately, balance out that very BAD decision to tackle me in the first place, if you think you can learn your lesson without me having to punish you anymore?” He was petting Sebastian– the way he usually did– running his hand down his neck and shoulders.

“Because I was planning on letting you have a treat if you were behaving… but then you went and misbehaved…. I’m not sure I should reward you right now.”

“I don’t care.” He meant it, too.

“hmm…” He got up and went out, after a while he came back. “I’m going to re-secure your arms and legs, Tiger.  JUST so you understand, the key to your neck chain is outside now.  Annoying, but I’m sure you understand.”

He didn’t bother to say anything. Of course he wouldn’t be given another opportunity.  He didn’t really pay much attention as his hands were re positioned behind him, and the walking chain put back on his ankles.  That was a bit more comfortable than the spreader bar anyway.

He went away, he came back.

Sebastian’s collar was unclipped. He didn’t bother moving.

“Come on, sit up.”  He did, he wasn’t going to argue or disobey. His captor went behind him and moved the chains around a bit, he heard a click. “I’ve locked your wrist chain loosely to your ankles,” he said, tugging on the chain slightly.

Indeed, he had, he couldn’t possibly stand up right now.  He could sit up, kneeling– as he was– or flop over on his side.

“Now, if you behave, you get a treat, alright? Stay.”

 _Stay? Like I have a choice?_ Sebastian managed to muster some annoyance for a moment. 

Jim went out and brought in a chair and a small table, and set them up next to Sebastian, then he went out again. He was gone for quite a few minutes… Sebastian momentarily considered lying down, but decided it wasn’t worth it.

He came back in with a tray. Sebastian took a while to recognize the smell– he hadn’t smelled anything but himself, meal replacement shakes, and wound cream in so long that it almost didn’t register.

Jim put the tray down on the table and sat down in the chair. “You should be able to scoot just a bit closer, Tiger.”

Sebastian watched him warily… _was that… no… steak?  That was steak?!_ His eyes widened. _The fucking bastard was going to eat a steak in front of him as punishment?_

Jim put a piece of steak into his mouth and chewed, slowly.  Sebastian tried not to curse at him, or drool.  He cut another bit of steak, much smaller, and speared it on his fork… and held it out at Sebastian.

“Take it nicely,” he said, like you would talk to a dog.

Sebastian very hesitantly leaned forward and took the bit of steak off the fork. He hardly tasted it he swallowed so fast.

Jim ate another bite of steak, slowly. Then he cut another little bit and looked at Sebastian. “Ask for it nicely.”

…“Please, may I have some, Sir?” Hell, he would have sat up and waved his hands like paws if he could have.

He smiled at him and gave him the bit of steak. “CHEW this time, Tiger.”

He got bits of steak, and potato, and some kind of cream covered vegetable, and every few bites the fellow would hold out a cup of water and give him a drink.  He was so grateful he almost cried.

“Now… I want you to put your head down on my leg and be a good Tiger.”

Sebastian had no idea what he meant, but whatever… he scooted forward a bit further, this was about as far as he could go, and put his head down on the fellow’s leg. Jim started combing his fingers through Sebastian’s hair, and petting down his neck.

“One of these days I’ll get you to purr, Tiger. Do you like cream?”

“…in… in my tea?... Sir,” he added hurriedly.

“Sweet whipped cream.”

He vaguely remembered whipped cream, from some eternity ago. “I… think so? Sir.”

He took something off the tray and held it to Sebastian’s lips with his fingers. Sebastian took it; being careful not to bite… it was a little sticky bit of pie, with whipped cream on it.  Sebastian moaned, he didn’t even realize what he was doing until after he had licked the fellow’s fingers clean.

“There’s a good Tiger,” he said handing him another bit of pie and encouraging him to lick his fingers again. “I told you if you were good you’d get a treat.  Now if you hadn’t mis-behaved, you could have had this a lot sooner.  I really don’t want to punish you, Sebastian.”

Sebastian knelt there, exhausted, confused, and generally hopeless, with a stomach full of good food for the first time in what felt like forever.  His head was lying on his enemy’s leg, and he had gentle hands petting his head, neck and shoulders… he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (super sekrit note: Jim is not quite the unruffled, fearless person he presents here... after he got out of the room he spent a lot of time leaning on a wall doing the equivalent of going "Holy SHIT that was close!"- what he IS, is a dmn good actor.)
> 
> Oh, and my proof reader is ill. please forgive my editing, i will be correcting any missed spelling/grammar errors in this later when i can


	6. Toffee and Apples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim tells him what he wants  
> TW for drug //sedative dreams and memory hallucinations (plus the usual)

Sebastian woke up on his mat with his hands chained in front of him again.  There were four bottles of meal replacement shakes, two bottles of electrolytes, and something like ten bottles of water next to the mat.  He blinked at them fuzzily before realizing that probably meant his captor wasn’t going to be back in time to feed him for a bit.

Time crept by, achingly slowly.

 _I’ve started missing him_ , he realized.  _I started missing him a while ago. He’s the only distraction, the only person to touch… This was a surprisingly good set up for brainwashing someone_.  He looked around the room again.

Four concrete walls, a door out, a closet, a sink, a winch, a grilled light, some pipes–none of which were within reach– a small drain on the floor, his chains, the mat… nothing to look at, nothing to do. He could pace in circles or do sit ups, a handful of other exercises… tasteless food…

 _He gave me a steak dinner and a few bits of pie and I was grateful. SHIT, I’ve fallen apart._ Sebastian shook his head and stared morosely at the bottle of shake in his hand.  _Our resistance training always said no one can hold out forever-even knowing what they were doing only helped a little. If this keeps up I’m gonna be…what?  what does he WANT?!_

He paced, he did some sit ups, eventually he slept a little.  He ran out of liquid and started seeing if he could pitch the bottles against the wall hard enough for them to bounce back... he could, most of the time.

Eventually the door opened and he came back.  Sebastian HATED how glad he was to see him.

“How’s my Tiger?”

“Bored.”  He regretted it the moment the word was out of his mouth.  There were all sorts of ways he could be ‘not bored”, most of them very bad.

“Come here.” He pointed to a spot in front of him.  Damned if that wasn’t about as far as he could go without having to turn around to keep his wrists facing the center. He really towered over the guy; he couldn’t have been more than five nine.  He was just looking up at him with sort of amused expression. “I brought you a treat.”

Sebastian tried, and failed, to keep the interest off his face.

“Down on your knees, Tiger.”

He had to raise his hands over his head to do it, of course.  To his surprise the fellow moved forward, bodies almost touching and rested a hand on his shoulder.  Sebastian tensed momentarily, he wanted to do something so badly… after a moment he just sighed and let his head fall slightly.

“There’s my good Tiger,” He slid his hand up to the collar and petted at him. “Now, do you prefer Brighton Rock? Or Toffee?”

“Toffee…Sir?”

He popped a bit of toffee in his mouth.  Sebastian closed his eyes and tasted pure heaven.

“Oh, now I like THAT expression, Tiger.” He laughed, “I’d rather see it over something other than candy, but it’s a good start.”

Sebastian refused to be distracted from the toffee.

He backed up a little once Sebastian was done – _Fuck, I probably look like a dam dog looking hopeful for more treats.–_ “Now, I’m going to give you a chance to earn a few extra treats, Sebastian, do you think you can behave?”

“That… depends on what you have in mind… Sir.”

“Well let’s start with a shave and a haircut.  The beard might suit you if it was properly groomed, but frankly you look a bit disheveled.”

“I bet.” Sebastian said drily.

Back to your mat, then,” Jim handed him the open padlock that he used for his neck chain. “Clip the walking chain to the ring and close it.”

“Why?”

“Because you want to earn a treat, so you’re going to do what I say,” he tilted his head, “and it’s Boss, Sir… or Jim once you earn it.”

“…Yes, Sir.” He  sighed. _Jim, was it…_ so he’d remembered the Jimmy part.  He went to his matt and knelt down and fastened the lock– Jim nodded and left the room. He came back carrying a bag and wearing a sort of carpenter’s apron.

The bag had electric clippers in it– the apron pockets had bits of candy in them.  He felt like a damned dog at the groomers, but every time he tilted his head under Jim’s hands he got a treat popped in his mouth.

When he was done Jim petted him, and rubbed his hair… and God it felt good to have a military hair cut again. “There, much better.”

“Seriously, what do you WANT from me?” his captor–Jim– looked at him, “Sir.” He added quickly.

“I want a pet Tiger.”

Sebastian twisted his head and stared up at him. “What?”

“I want a pet Tiger,” He repeated, smiling down at him.

“I’m not a PET!” He momentarily tried to get up, but Jim just pushed down on his shoulder lightly and he stayed down.

“Oh, yes you are, Sebastian.  Right now you’re a spectacularly USELESS, expensive, and time consuming pet… keeping you fed and clean, and contained… while you accomplish exactly… nothing.”

Sebastian froze.  Prisons were expensive, he knew that.  If nothing else this was time spent, and rent… “Then… why? Sir?”

“Because eventually, you’ll be able to be let off your leash a bit, Tiger.  You used to be a brilliant sniper, and you weren’t half bad as a lieutenant working for your old boss… I’ll make you better.”

“If you wanted me to work for you this is a DAMN strange way to hire!”

“Oh, I don’t want you to work for me, Tiger. I want to own you.”

Sebastian shuddered, “Don’t you?”

“Not yet, Tiger, but we’re getting there.” He patted his shoulder and walked away.

Sebastian shuddered again. _Yeah, you are, aren’t you?_ “I won’t be good for much if I stay like this…”

“I know.”  He came back with a bottle of water and a couple of pills. “Take these.”

Sebastian thought about arguing– he took them and finished off the water.  Jim took the bottle from him and checked it, and then he held up a toffee, “good boy.” Sebastian had to lean forward and take it from his fingers.  Jim waited until he was done with the toffee and petted him again.

“So what were they, Sir?” Sebastian asked.  Not that it really mattered.

“Sleeping pills. Fairly heavy duty, so you may be a bit off, and I’m going to get you some electrolytes now, and you’ll find some next to you when you get up.”

Sebastian figured he must need to do maintenance… that made sense.  

Jim walked over to his bag and came back with an apple. “Do you like apples?  They’re my favorite.”

“I used to think they were okay…” _God, real fresh apples?_ He’d never known how much you could miss apples, “I… Please may I have one, Sir?”

Jim beamed at him, “That’s a good Tiger,” he handed him the apple.  He was holding it in his hands and he could bring it up to his own mouth… he bit into it and moaned.  It was crisp, and sweet, and he didn’t remember any apple ever tasting this good, ever.

Jim started talking about apples: this one was apparently named Black Gilliflower, and had been called Lady Finger of Hereford… except that was another apple variety… and it had been grown in England before being grown in America… it was a dessert apple… and there was some lady named Bess… and a pool…

*

He was at a party at his Father’s house, but he was in his uniform for some reason, and his mother was still alive.  It didn’t really make any sense because his mother died when he was still a kid.  He was talking to his dad’s party guests, and this one lady kept popping toffees into his mouth for being such a good boy…

~

Somehow he ended up in a bathtub.  There was some girl in the tub with him but he must have been pretty drunk because he couldn’t focus on her.  She kept stroking him and talking about what a big tiger he was.

“It gets bigger….” His voice slurred, she giggled. He tried to lift his head and the room spun some more.

“Oh, you ARE out of it, Tiger.”

~

He was in the military prison, having been called in because one of his prisoners was being obstinate about giving up some information.  For some reason there were apples all over:  apple posters, bowls of apples– he took one as he walked by but it wasn’t allowed in the cells. He walked in and the guy started babbling…

“You’re not going to have dragged me all this way for nothing, are you?”

The interrogator grinned and told him another cell number, “he hasn’t met you, yet. Wanna go soften him up for me?”

~

The prisoner was in an alley, and wouldn’t cry, or scream… and then he was the prisoner, and he was hanging from his wrists in a cold basement. Opening his eyes for the first time since he was captured he saw Jim and he wanted to kill him, but his arms hurt and he couldn’t get loose.

Jim took a switch off an apple tree and kept hitting him, his back was bleeding.  It was because he’d been bad.

He whimpered…

“Shhh… It’s alright, Tiger.”

~

He was a tiger, lying on a rock.  He rolled over and stretched, _if only I could get this collar off, life would be perfect_. Mowgli from the Jungle Book petted his side.  He went to swipe at him with a paw, and cried because he had manacles on his paws.

~

He was lining up a shot, focused on some poor wretched prisoner.  They couldn’t rescue him, but he could put the poor bastard out of his misery.  When the wind died down, and the ground stopped moving, he took the shot. Too late he realized he was the prisoner.

 


	7. a whole new world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiger gets a new habitat....

Sebastian opened his eyes and immediately shut them again– the blue mat seemed intolerably bright. The floor seemed brighter, too. He remembered Jim– _no, don’t get chummy, “that bastard” or “my captor” not “Jim”_ – said something about electrolytes.  He reached out and felt around carefully. His fingertips brushed a bottle.

His other arm didn’t move.

His eyes snapped open fast and he stared at his wrist.  He had what looked like a solid metal cuff on his wrist, with a single loop on it…. and no chain. He moved carefully, his head was pounding but he managed to look at his other wrist– the same.  He pulled his feet up and stared at them: ankle cuffs, solid as hell, with attachment rings, but no chain.  He touched his neck… collar… lock… there was a cable locked onto it that… he tried to follow the cable with his eyes but it was too bright.

He tugged, it went up toward the ceiling, and away, but it wasn’t taut.

His mat must be at the edge of the range of the line… and the cable went to the winch…. Okay. But his hands were free, and so were his feet.  He shut his eyes and felt around until he found the bottle again.  He sat there, drinking his electrolytes wondering what it all meant. Eventually he decided the only way to deal with the too bright and his headache was to lie down and cover his eyes with his arm.

He’d never appreciated being able to move his arms separately before, it was really wonderful.

~

“Tiger?” Jim’s voice brought him awake quickly, “Are you alright?”

He rolled over, used to having his hands chained together and his feet connected, got disoriented and rolled off the mat.

“Oof!” he brought his hands under him and pushed up on his knees.  He saw his wrists again and stared at them. “No chain?”

“No chain, Tiger, as long as you behave… I really don’t want to punish you.”

Sebastian looked over until he found Jim’s shoes, and then looked up.  He was standing well clear of Sebastian’s reach and looked a bit tense?

“What’s… wrong?... Sir?”

“I was hoping to have moved you here earlier, Tiger… just… don’t prove me wrong about whether you can behave.”

“Move?” he tried to shake his head, “Whatever was in those pills scrambled my head.”

“Ah…” Jim’s voice got softer and kinder. “You’re in your new habitat, Tiger.  It’s a lot bigger.”

Sebastian struggled to his feet…. _Yeah, the wall… the wall was way behind Jim… the door was further away, a LOT further away._   He blinked stupidly at him.

“Turn around and look, Tiger.”  Jim’s voice was soft and gentle, but there was a kind of suppressed excitement there.

He turned and the rest of his prison came into view–

The room had the same grey concrete walls, much further away.  Sebastian gasped: There was a weight and exercise station, like you’d see in the best gyms– One of the all in one things with upper and lower body workouts around a central core.  There was a stationary bicycle, bolted to the floor, and next to that was a treadmill. His eyes tracked further and found a bed– a real bed, a big one– the attachment points on the corners were a bit worrisome, but..

There was a freestanding shower, and a toilet, and a sink.

Sebastian sank back down to his knees staring at it. He was pretty sure he’d started crying.

“Like it, Tiger?”

He couldn’t manage to say anything, he just nodded.

He heard footsteps come up behind him. Jim’s hand settled gently on the back of his neck.  He bent his head down and kept his hands on his legs. “There’s my good Tiger,” Jim said, petting him. “See? As long as you behave, things get better.  Now, I have to go out for a bit… don’t overdo it, you haven’t had much exercise the last while, and it will take time to get you back in shape, okay?”

“Yes, Sir…” his voice was hoarse and shaky.

“Start with just a few minutes of workout and take a break, alright? If you’re a good Tiger I’ll bring you back another steak.”

“Th-Thank you, Sir.”

Jim moved his hand up Sebastian’s neck and pressed it into his cheek. “Of course, Tiger. See you soon.”

The hand went away and he heard footsteps walking away, and the door opening and closing.  He just knelt there staring at it all for a long while…

*

He’d woken up hanging from the chains on his wrists, he remembered that.

Jim had hit him with a switch… hadn’t he?

He’d been hit with something like a cattle prod, but then he made it better, later… I think?

He’d been kept awake for days… hung by his arms until he was begging for mercy… twisted up inside by water and…

_But anyway, I’d hurt him… I was lucky to be let off this easily, really…_

Sebastian thought back over what he’d done to Jim… He must have really hurt him… come to think of it… why…

_Why wasn’t he torturing me?  Because he wasn’t…. he hadn’t damaged me, not really… anyone else would either shoot me and be done with it, or…_

My head hurts.

*

Sebastian groaned in pain.

He was in a comfortable bed, for once, and lying down with his arms and legs free, for once, and he HURT.  He’d over done it.  He had been appalled at how little weight he could handle, and how little distance, and how slow… and he’d over done it and now all his muscles were cramped and _oh FUCK me it hurts._

Eventually he heard the voice he’d been half dreading…

“Oh, Tiger…” Jim “Tsked” at him. “You overdid it, didn’t you?  I should have supervised you… you don’t make very good judgments.”

“I usually do, Sir…” he winced, and tried to roll off the bed. “owwwww….” He grabbed at his leg as his calf and foot cramped, hard.

A firm hand pushed him back on the bed. “Stay.” He heard footsteps and a door but honesty all he cared about was his leg apparently trying to snap apart. Then his fucking back started thinking that was a GREAT idea and started spasming too.

He didn’t notice when Jim came back.  Very suddenly there was a strange slightly painful electric sensation down his leg– he tried to pull away.

“Stay!” Jim ordered.  He stayed, as much as he could with his leg trying to rip itself apart... the electric pain got a bit worse, and then– _oh god BLISS!_   He moaned and went limp.

“Back? Please, Sir?” he panted.  _Whatever Jim did he was a GOD and I will kiss his fucking expensive shoes…._

There was a pair of hands firmly on his back and then that same weird electric feeling and his muscles tensed… and unlocked

“Ooooohhhh…..”

“There, there, Tiger. Can you move yet?”

“I have no idea, Sir.”

He heard Jim muttering something “...not how I planned to get you in bed, ah well.”

 _Wait… that… that was all kinds of wrong and bad and_ … something went “click” like a cap coming off, and a little puddle of warm pooled on his back?  Firm hands started rubbing his back….

“You’re a God…” Sebastian moaned.

“Well, yes, Tiger,” he sounded amused, “yours at least.” He rubbed down Sebastian’s legs and arms, and Sebastian couldn’t have moved if you held a gun to his head.  Then more of that electric feeling started up.  It crackled, that was the only word for it… crackled down his back and legs and across his shoulders… he saw a strange pinkish? Purple? Glow out of the corner of his eye… some strange glowing thing was moving across his arm, and that was the crackling feeling.

“wrr?”

“Violet wand,” Jim said, “turn it up too high and it hurts like hell, but at lower levels it’s… pleasant. I’m using it to counter the muscle spasms.” Jim clicked it off and set it down. “Scoot to the edge of the bed, come on, you need a drink, part of the cramping is mineral and dehydration.”

Jim dragged him over until his head was off the bed and put a straw in his mouth.  The electrolyte drink never tasted so good.

“Are… you a doctor?”

“No, I’ve just been hurt a lot.” He sounded amused. “Physical terrorists are eeeeeevil people, but I sure learned a lot.” He paused and then went on in a thoughtful fashion, “honestly I’m surprised more militaries don’t hire them for interrogators, I would have confessed to anything when… but luckily most of them have those medical ethics” he chuckled, “That and far too much time in BDSM clubs… then again you’d be surprised how many of those people are medical, or medically trained… its them and the lawyers.”

Jim started rubbing the back of his neck; his head went limp over the edge of the bed.

“I- I normally make better decisions, Sir.”

“No, no you don’t.  After all, look how we met.” His hands were rubbing and petting down Sebastian’s back and digging into his ass. It felt incredible but uh… some interest was…

“I…” maybe a slight change of subject, “I told my boss to take the offer, but he wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I know. That’s one of the reasons you’re alive, you had brains.” He was slowly but steadily taking the muscles out of his thighs and turning them into gelatin– squishy gelatin. “I meant the very BAD decision to attack me, and the even WORSE decision not to take me up on my offer to cooperate.”

Sebastian twitched. “I-I’m sorry?”

“No, you’re not.  Eventually you will be, but it’s nice of you to say that: Good Tiger.” Jim reached between his legs and stroked a hand covered in massage oil over…

Sebastian moaned.  The few times he’d had his hands locked in front of him they’d usually been over his head, or he’d had other things on his mind, he hadn’t… “Uh…”

“You really are a big Tiger.” He kept his hand moving, it felt utterly wonderful and Sebastian wanted to roll over and DO something about it, but…

“I… think if you keep that up I might make another bad decision…Sir.” His fingers started digging into the bed, hard.

“Alright.” He stopped, dammit. “Good, Tiger. Remember, if you tell me you might misbehave, I’ll help you make good choices, so you don’t get punished.  You get a reward for that.  Would you prefer to be face up? Or face down?”

 _Oh dear God…_ he had to make choice, he knew that, but… he said reward, so he wouldn’t be hurt, right?  “Uh… face up I guess?”

“Roll over…” Jim helped him roll over; he shut his eyes and tried not to think about it.  Dear God if he went after Jim again… no telling what would happen. “Now extend your arms to the corners…”

 _Ah, restraint. Well, the bed was a hell of a lot more comfortable than hanging from them_. He felt Jim move his arm and then a click sound… he tugged, his arm moved a little but was locked to the bed post.  There was weight over his torso and then his other arm was locked down. He opened his eyes.

Jim was looking down at him and… he was smiling but…  “GOOD Tiger.”  Jim popped a toffee in his mouth.

“Now where was I?” he slid his hands down Sebastian’s chest, and across his stomach. “Good decisions get rewarded, Tiger.”

 


	8. petting the tiger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> two steps forward...

Sebastian felt a bit calmer with his arms restrained; at least… at least he COULDN’T try anything with Jim…

Jim smiled down at him amusedly and started massaging his front– working on his arms, his chest, his legs.  Jim was fully dressed– just in short sleeves– and Sebastian could see muscles moving in his arms and shoulders as he worked. Every now and then he got out that … violet wand? Anyway it kind of hurt but it also felt wonderful.  Eventually Sebastian forgot about his erection, or doing anything to Jim, and was just lying there turning into a limp noodle…

And then Jim started giving him a hand job again.

“Uh… Ummm…” _it really wouldn’t take much to hurt me badly there…._

“Yes, Tiger?” he said, calmly going about getting him off, while looking like this was just one more muscle to rub.

“You… aren’t… mad about…” _Oh, me raping you and leaving you unconscious in an alley, maybe?_ Sebastian cringed and despite all interest deflated a bit.

Jim cocked his head and picked up the violet wand, he turned it down to a dull, dull glow and started using it... there… _ohhhhh_ … Sebastian’s brain turned off.  Eventually Jim stopped. Sebastian whined.

Jim’s hand resumed petting and stroking at Sebastian’s cock. “Of course I’m angry, Sebastian,” he said in a very quiet voice, “eventually you’ll make it up to me though.”

“You… uh… That feels… uhhhh…” _If he’s mad at me why does that feel good? Why… ah… I…_

“Sebastian… Do I own you?”

“wrr? He blinked a few times and had to admit… _well it’s not like I could leave_. “Yes, Sir?”

“mmm… that sounded like a question.  You see, eventually… I WILL own you, Tiger, and then you wouldn’t even dream of running away, much less hurting me.”

It was really, REALLY hard to think with him doing that… he wanted to slam into something he wanted to hear someone beg, he … “I... uh… like…” he hadn’t really had to say it before, not out loud.  He liked hurting people.  Plain sex was okay, but he… he trailed off quietly.

“Yes, Tiger?” he’d slowed to a sort of soothing pressure and stroke.

“I like hurting people.” He said quietly.

“You sound surprised, Sebastian, didn’t you know that?” Jim sounded surprised and curious.

“No…  I mean… I knew I liked hurting people, but… I never thought about it…” Sebastian looked up cautiously–Jim didn’t look upset or anything–“I wanted you to scream, or beg… I… I wanted to…”

He just smiled, “you wanted to put me DOWN, and hurt me, and break me.”

“Yes,” he blinked at him. _Yes, that was it… that was it exactly!_

“Sir…” Jim prompted, and the violet wand hit his thigh hot, like a brand… he yelped.

“Sir! Yes– yes, Sir.” It had been so sudden, he was panting, and… _oh GOD he was hard._

Jim smirked. “Not. A. Chance.” He ran the violet wand across his chest, and it hurt, but… _oh GOD it felt good,_ especially with Jim finally being rougher with his hand… he moaned.

“Ask me nicely, Tiger, and you get a treat…”

“Please Sir!” he didn’t know what he was asking for, but…

Jim ran the violet wand over his nipple, and watched him try to arch off the bed with a faint smile.

“You’re never going to put me down, Tiger, and you aren’t a good enough sadist to break me, I’ve been through worse than you could come up with before I was twelve…”  Jim licked his nipple while he hit the other one with the violet wand.

“Oh God… Please... please Sir…” _stop? Let me come?_ He wanted Jim under him begging for mercy, but this felt so…

He hit the wet nipple with the violet wand and Sebastian screamed, Jim licked over it and moved down his ribs… the violet wand punctuating any wetness his mouth left behind with fire.

Jim’s tongue traced leisurely down, and he licked up Sebastian’s dick… _oh no, no, not the wand_ … he couldn’t even describe the sensation.  It wasn’t fire, or pain, or electricity, it just WAS… and he found himself begging, pleading…

And then when his mind came back, Jim took him into his mouth and traced his veins with his tongue…

“Please… please, Sir, please. Sir… “ he couldn’t think. All he could do was lie there. He was utterly and completely at Jim’s mercy and he could do AYTHING to him and he wanted him to stop and he never wanted him to stop and…

Electricity shot through him tracing the wetness into Jim’s mouth and he came harder than he ever had before in his life.  Jim swallowed and licked him off as he came down… the violet wand a dim glow playing over his nipples and across his chest…

Sebastian lay there staring blankly, stunned.

Jim sprawled across his chest and brushed his cheek with the wand, turned low enough that it just tingled. He was looking down at Sebastian with a lidded gaze and a predatory smile.

_He’s the Tiger– I’m a tethered goat._

“Now, then, Tiger… I know you like to hurt people– in fact I’m counting on it– but you need to learn that it can be just as fun the other way around, with the right person.”

Sebastian swallowed, “That… fun isn’t exactly the word I’d use… Sir.”

“Oh? How would you describe it?”

Sebastian just shook his head, “I... I don’t have any words… I never… how did that feel so good?”

Jim just smiled. “You have a little talent, Tiger, but you’re crude. As a sadist you’re strictly a blunt object– a club to the head.”

“I broke people for them… in the military,” he said quietly.

“You mean that big scandal?”

“No... in the prisons. It’s why they never charged me.  That was… they asked…” he was staring up into brown eyes that looked so soft, and were anything but. “I was going to go to work for the government here in London, after it died down…”

“Oh? You’ll have to tell me aaalll about it, Tiger.  I guess they must have thought you were pretty good?”

“After I was done with prisoners they talked.” A note of pride crept back into his voice.

“When I’m done with someone they talk, too.” Jim smiled down at him.  He reached over and took a swig of water out of a bottle, and held it to Sebastian’s lips; he drank it greedily. “but every now and then I find someone worth keeping, like you.”

“And…. Then, Sir?”

“I always wanted a pet Tiger.” He smiled, and his smile got wider.  Sebastian almost swore his teeth got sharper, but they didn’t. “I’ve already put you down, Tiger.  I already made you scream, and beg. I broke you.”

Sebastian looked away.  _He had, hadn’t he?_

Jim took his chin and turned it back, making him look up at him again. “I’m a much better sadist than you are, Sebastian, but you’re stronger, and larger, and you aren’t stupid… I’m going to teach you how to break people in ways you never even imagined.”

“You… are?”

“Oh yes, Tiger... you get to keep your claws, but you’ll use them where, and when, I tell you to.  If I didn’t have a use for your teeth and claws I would have pulled them first thing.”

Sebastian shuddered and tried to close his eyes.  Jim pinched a nipple and he yelped and opened them again.

“Now, I’m going to let you up, and you’re going to go take a shower, and then I’ll explain some new rules that go with all these new toys, while you eat your steak dinner.”

“Yes, Sir.” He said, looking up into those eyes. “You… I thought you were just… you never worked for that gang did you?”

“I was consulting for the boss. I’m the reason he’d gotten so far, and your boss screwed that up.” he got a key from somewhere and unlocked one of Sebastian’s wrists. “Stay.”

Sebastian didn’t move. Hell, he was half afraid to breathe.

“Now I’m consulting for a different boss.  However…” he unlocked the other wrist. Sebastian stayed exactly where he was. Jim got up and put the key and the locks onto the bed. “I need to get you a dresser to keep your toys in… anyway, I need a pet Tiger. I need someone who looks intimidating, and isn’t stupid,” he got off the bed and smiled down at him. Sebastian slowly pulled his arms in.

“I need someone who can kill for me, and you can certainly do that, Tiger, but I think with a little work, I can use you for more.” he turned his back and walked to the door. Sebastian sat up slowly.

“Go clean up, Sebastian. We’ll talk over dinner.”


	9. One step back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tiger growled and tried to flex his claws, because that's what Tigers do...  
> There are several kinds of sadists

Jim did, indeed, come back with dinner.  To be specific he came back with a table, and a folding chair, which he rather firmly declared as “Mine, Tiger, you can use them when I’m not here if you’re good.”

He put a pad down on the floor next to him and Sebastian slunk over and knelt down.  It was really awful how terrifying he was, for someone who was… you know… small, breakable…

“I had you down.” Sebastian muttered. Not daring to lift his head.

Jim reached down and ruffled his hair, “not really, Tiger, you knocked me down, yes…” his hand slid down to his neck.

Jim held a bit of steak down on a fork. Sebastian started to reach for it and Jim ‘Tsked’ in the back of his throat. “Keep your paws down, Tiger.”

Sebastian gritted his teeth.  He could knock him down, even now, even as weak as he was.  He could–

Something very cold and very sharp pricked at the back of his neck just over his collar. “Were you thinking about naughty things, Tiger? That’s too bad…”

Sebastian froze and the line on his collar suddenly hummed and pulled him away.  He scrabbled at it desperately as it towed him to the center of the room and started lifting him off his feet.

“Please! Sir, I’m sorry!” he was desperately grabbing at the line with his hands. It was slick and nowhere near as easy to grab as a chain…

“DOWN!” Jim snapped and the line played out.

Sebastian dropped to his knees and cowered.

“Sebastian… Wasn’t I being nice to you?”

“Yes, sir…”

“Didn’t I bring you a treat, too?”

“Yes, sir.” Sebastian tried to be as small as he could.

“Do I need to put you back in the small cell?”

“No, Sir.”

“You KNOW I’ll have to punish you for this.  I can’t have you learning bad habits.”

“Yes, sir.” He whispered.

“Go get the locks and keys off the bed.”

Sebastian scrambled over and got them. “Please... don’t–“

“Quiet!” Jim snapped. “Only answer when you’re spoken to, you are in TROUBLE, Tiger.”

“Yes, Sir.” Military training snapped to the fore.

Jim stalked away to a closet and got something out. He slid a length of chain across the floor at him. “Lock one end to your ankle and the other end to that ring.” He pointed to a ring on the floor.

Sebastian was closing the second lock before he even thought about arguing. “How… how do you know what I was thinking?”

“Keys. Slide them across the floor toward me.”

Sebastian did. Jim didn’t even bother to go get them, just stood there and stared at him. “First of all, muttering about how you had me down was a pretty good clue, but as to the rest, Sebastian, your muscles tensed and you shifted your weight.  You’re used to watching for someone taking a swing at you? They shift their weight before they swing.”

_Yeah, yeah they do…_

“Now, I refuse to punish you when I’m this angry– I’d break you in ways you would never recover from– so I’m going to take a walk and cool down. You can think about your bad decisions.”  He spun on his heel and walked out.

*

When his mother was alive, his dad would usually sneer something about him being a “mama’s boy” during his punishments. Now that she was dead he usually made comments about “toughening you up” instead. His father was a tall man with a solid build, and Sebastian–unfortunately– took after him, looking pretty much like a younger version of his father.  He had his mother’s eyes and hair though.  He stared into the mirror as his father had him count out strokes with the belt.  Sometime during one of those sessions he realized he was as tall as his father already.  He started watching his father’s eyes in the mirror instead.

Hatred.

His father was yelling at him about stuff that didn’t even make sense, sometimes. Oh fine, he blackened some kid’s eye, and he broke something, and he ruined the flower beds– whatever. The fury over his being a mama’s boy, over being soft, over toughening him up. It didn’t make sense to him, but he worked as hard as he could to be bigger, stronger, better, than any of the other boys.

It was when he was at school, and one of the kids was clearly a faggot, that it all clicked.  His father thought HE was?  He could have told him he wasn’t–girls were great, especially the older girls who had a figure… but it wasn’t like buggering some brat wasn’t fun, too… He puzzled over that one until school break and he went home again. He’d been home for two days when his father lit into him over something.  He watched him in the mirror.

Fear.

Fear was something he knew how to use.  Fear was first year snots cowering and polishing your shoes.  Fear was taking the lads out and cornering someone behind the pub.  Fear was… Fear was fun.  He stopped paying attention to anything his father said after that.  The next time he tried to take a belt to him was after he’d been sent to military school, and Sebastian just laughed and took it out of his hand.

“Try it again, old man, and I’ll show you how to use it.”

He never laid a hand on him again, just looked at him. He threatened to disown him a few times, but Sebastian knew he wouldn’t, not unless there was a scandal.

Jim… Jim was smaller, weaker… well, physically at least. He had his father’s dark hair and dark eyes…. Come to that, most of the boys he…

Most of the boys he went after had dark hair and dark eyes. The ones that he hurt really badly…

Like Jim.

But Jim didn’t have the slightest trace of fear in those dark eyes. Not any.

*

Jim came back, eventually.  He’d left the steak on the table and it was cold and probably inedible.  Sebastian hoped he’d be allowed to use the toilet, but he probably wouldn’t. When Jim came in he got up onto his knees and kept his head down.

“Decided to be a good Tiger again?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hmm.” He walked over and got the tray of food and carried it out. He came back and sat down in the chair. “Whatever am I going to do with you, Sebastian?”

“My father used to take a belt to me,” he offered slowly.

“Crude.” Jim sniffed.

“He thought I was a fag– he thought I was gay.”

Jim arched an eyebrow, “You might be bisexual, but you’re not gay. I watched your eyes back before I captured you, you watched girls.”

Sebastian blinked up at him. “I’m… not?” I mean, he never thought he was, but he did like fucking guys– as long as they were under him... uh... except for Jim, that was…

Jim just stared at him, “Did you have a doubt?”

“Well... uh… you… I didn’t used to think I was, but…” he ducked his head again.

“God save me from people panicking over their sexuality.” Jim snorted. “You are sexually attracted to women. I think you are also sexually attracted to men–certain men anyway. You are also a sadist, if somewhat crude, and you get off on violence and domination– especially fear and subjugation, I’m guessing, so that will turn you on regardless of gender.”

Sebastian just sat on his heels with his mouth open.

“Given what you’ve said about your father I assume you are going to be even MORE violent toward men than women, since you’re trying to prove you aren’t gay.”

“I… I noticed….”

“Yes?”

“My father had dark hair and eyes… until he went grey, anyway.”

“How can you tell with his receding hairline?”

Sebastian snorted and then cringed a bit, “You know who I am, of course, Sir.”

“Dog tags, hardly a challenge.” He waved a hand, “a surprise, I admit, to find someone with your background working for someone like that… I put it down to the scandal from the military.” He cocked his head, “you said you were going to work for the government?”

“Yes, sir.”

“There’s a start back into my good graces, tell me about it.”

He did.  He told him about the military, and the military prisons, and interrogation. He told him about the stop by the side of the road and how the men reacted to being raped–

“Do you need the toilet, Sebastian? You’re fidgeting.”

“Yes, sir.”

He tossed him a key. Sebastian started to unlock his leg and Jim made a disapproving noise. He froze.

“Ask permission, Tiger.”

“May I unlock my leg, Sir?’

He nodded, “yes.”

He barely made it to the toilet in time. He tried not to look at Jim who was just watching him coolly. 

“Clean up… thoroughly.”

Sebastian ducked his head and did.  There was a laundry basket he hadn’t noticed before; he put the used towels in it and the washcloth.   He came back over to the ring on the floor.

“Do you want me to…?”

“Yes.”

He locked himself back to the ring and started to toss him the key.

“Keep it for now. Go on with your story.”

He clutched the key like a lifeline as he went on.  He told him about the interrogators calling him back in sometimes, about the scandal, and how upset they were to let him go…

“I got a contact number for London– they have a facility here, apparently– one of the men took me to dinner and said they’d be delighted to hire me once the news let up. I- I wasn’t going to go back home, and my father would have just given me hell about the scandal anyway, so I ended up working for some of the people at the bars, like a bouncer… and…”

“And playing goon for your old boss… who didn’t listen to you.” Jim nodded. Then he smiled, “Did you run into me by accident?”

“I’d… I’d been looking for you, when we took down the gang, Sir, but you weren’t there.  I was edgy and I took a walk: I just happened to see you when I finally ducked into a pub.”

“Edgy?”

“I usually blow off steam with sex, or a fight… or both.”

“Ah, and there I was.”

“…and there you were, sir.” He curled in on himself. “I… like you said I wanted to make you…”

“You wanted to put me down and hurt me– make me scream and be afraid– but I just took it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Like I said, Tiger, you’re crude– lacking finesse. You’ve never had to develop any, so you never did.  Waterboarding must have been a revelation to you.”

“Yes, sir.  Um… it … didn’t do much for me.”

“It wouldn’t, you’re a hands on sadist.”

“There’s… kinds?”

He chuckled, and smiled and all the hair on the back of Sebastian’s neck stood up again. “Oh, yes, Tiger. I’m an intellectual sadist– a psychological sadist.  Pain is just a means to an end– a tool.”

He stood up and stretched. “You’re going to be the tool I use to inflict pain on other people– you’ll even enjoy it- but for right now we have to punish you.  You said your father used a belt?”  Sebastian nodded slowly wondering again how someone that harmless looking could turn into such a terror.

“Well… let me show you how it’s done right…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those reading the main story line... Jim's admissions here should tell you a LOT about his interactions with Mycroft


	10. First Time With a Flog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> endorphins are such a useful drug...

Jim ordered him over to one of the support pillars and had him chain one of his wrists to it.  Jim then came over and chained his other wrist, and took the keys.

“Belt, hmm? I usually prefer a finer flog, but I’m sure I can find a belt somewhere. Don’t go anywhere.”

He stood there for a while, staring at a pillar in front of his nose. _Why did I chain myself to a pillar?  For that matter why did I chain myself to the floor? Wouldn’t it have been worth the dignity to make him try to strangle me with the line, or shoot me or something?_   Sebastian sighed and muttered, “You are totally whipped.”

“Not ye-et…” Jim sang out from behind him, “but you will be.”

“Jesus!” he jerked at the restraints and then sagged into the pillar. At least he was on his feet and his wrists were only chained at eye level. He could keep his arms flexed.

“So I take it your father just hit you across the ass with a belt?”

“Yes, sir. Until I got big enough and wised up, I told him if he tried it again I’d use it on him.”

“Hmmm… I never got big enough; I had to get smart enough.”

Sebastian just braced. He’d been beaten with a belt by his father, and with a belt and a paddle at school, he could–

Jim hit him across the ass twice in rapid succession with the belt, “So… like that?”

Sebastian saw red.  Everything came back all at once.  He was going to get loose and he was going to KILL the sonofabitch. 

He fought the restraints, he screamed curses…

He was at school…

He was at home…

He was…

He was…

…

His eyes were very heavy…He was chained to a pillar, hanging from his wrists… and his head was spinning…. There was a regular impact against his back, moving down across his ass, to his thighs, and back up… he felt warm…

“Feeling better, Tiger?”

“Unh…” his tongue wouldn’t work; he couldn’t keep his eyes open…

“I think that’s enough…” Jim’s voice came from very far away.  Someone was rubbing hands over his back, they were cool… it made his back hurt a little but it felt so good…

“Oooohhhh” he felt his wrists unlock and he slid down to his knees, leaning into the pillar for support.

“Here we go, Tiger, on your feet...” he was leaning on someone, staggering like a drunk.  He was lying down on the bed… _oh God, that was a comfortable bed._

He felt his wrists clipped together, but it didn’t matter.  Someone was rubbing his back… he had a momentary flicker of alarm when something pushed into his ass, but Jim’s voice was soothing. “I’m just going to… ah, there we are.”  And something felt soooo wonderful, and he just snuggled his head into the warm skin and drifted off….

*

Sebastian opened his eyes slowly.  He ached, he ached badly, but he also felt good, like… like after a really good workout, or sex… but he ached.  There was something warm on top of his head, and there was a pair of men’s briefs under his head? _Uh…_ he tried to move his arms… his wrists were fastened together – but much more comfortably with the new cuffs than with the old chains– and he heard a clinking sound… chained to the bed?

“Awake again, Tiger?”

“…Yes, Sir?”

Jim moved his laptop off of Sebastian’s head.

He was lying with his head on Jim’s lap, and Jim had been balancing his laptop on his head….

He twisted to look up at him and winced as his shoulders screamed at him.

Jim reached down and petted him. He didn’t want to, but he found himself relaxing into it. “You sure do take some convincing, Tiger.”

“What… what did you do?”

“Showed you what I can do with a belt.  Next time we try it with a flog…” he looked wickedly amused, “maybe I’ll use the belt as a leash.”

“Um.” He looked up his arms. His wrists were clipped together and chained to the bed post by a short chain. “Did… did you… uh… something felt…”

“I’m not going to waste my first time fucking you with you that far down in subspace, Tiger.” He said casually, closing the laptop and putting it on the–

“When did a bedside table show up?”

“After you passed out, along with that dresser over there.” He nodded. Sebastian followed his direction… sure enough there was a chest of drawers.

“In case you’re interested, Sebastian,” he drawled, “After I flogged you–and you take a lash beautifully, we WILL be doing that again– I got you into bed. What you probably remember is me fingering you.  I did think you deserved to finish after that.” He dug his fingers into Sebastian’s scalp and hair and tugged, then petted down his neck and over his shoulders. It hit Sebastian like a drug– he sagged into Jim’s lap. “Good Tiger.”

He just lay there, sprawled on Jim’s lap and over his legs, being petted.  Some part of his brain thought he should object, but…

A distant sort of buzz eventually got his attention. Jim patted him and said “roll over, Tiger” – he did.

Jim pulled a phone out of the bedside drawer and walked away. “Yes?”

He’d… had a phone?  Right there?  Of COURSE my wrists were chained to the OTHER bedpost.  He tried to twist around to see if anything else was in the drawer–no luck.

Jim was giggling at him.

“What?” he asked sort of sullenly. “uh, Sir.”

“You look silly trying to twist around like that.  I have to go. He walked over and got his laptop and took them out of range, then came back.  He unlocked Sebastian’s wrists, and just as Sebastian was pulling his arms in, he grabbed one of them.  Sebastian froze and stared at him.

“If you ever, EVER, try anything like that again…” he leaned forward, still holding Sebastian’s wrist. “I will make a point of breaking you so hard you’ll be useless; then if you are VERY lucky, I’ll kill you.” he let go of his wrist. “Clear?”

Sebastian cradled his wrist against his chest as if it he’d been burned, “Very clear, Sir.”

“Good.” Jim walked away. He stopped with his laptop and phone at the door, “Oh, I got you some things, they’re in your dresser: wouldn’t want you to be hurt.” he giggled again and left.

Sebastian huddled on the bed for several minutes after he left. Eventually, very slowly, he got up.  His back and butt and thighs hurt, but not horribly, just…

He shook his head and tried not to think about it.  He cautiously pulled open the drawer on the bedside table, half expecting something horrible to jump out at him.

Condoms, lube, massage oil, medical gloves? Sebastian wasn’t sure if that was horrible or not but it was sort of worrisome.

He went over to the dresser and cautiously opened the first drawer: towels, washcloths… and a small medical kit. He investigated that quickly, and found a lot of ointments and a small number of pain pills and things to bandage with, but nothing sharp.  The second drawer was empty, so was the third, the fourth had replacement sheets for the bed. The fifth had a couple of pairs of socks, a pair of sneakers, a jockstrap, and a note.

Sebastian,

Using a treadmill in your bare feet is dangerous, and I think the bouncing can’t be that good for you.  I expect a proper and sincere thank you when I get back.

Jim

 


	11. and time goes by...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> appliances, electricity, blow jobs, and new toys

Jim came back, Sebastian got fed a steak dinner one forkful at a time, and then Jim had a serious discussion with him while finger feeding him dessert.  It made for a rather distracted conversation.

“–I’ll have a washer and dryer brought in because I am NOT doing laundry for you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now sadly I have some business to deal with so I may not get back a lot. I expect you to remember your manners.”

“Yes, sir.” He did his best to look small and Jim left.

He came back with a cargo loader with a washer and dryer, and small number of tools.  It turned out he expected Sebastian to install it.  While Sebastian was desperately trying to figure out instructions that appeared to have been written in Japanese by someone who had never actually SEEN the objects, only had them described, after which they were translated to English by going through German, or Czech… Jim came back with a refrigerator, which luckily only needed to be plugged in.

“Aren’t you done yet?”

“Give me a gun, sir… let me go shoot the bastard who wrote these instructions!”

Jim stared at him for a moment and then started snickering. “Go sit on the bed, Sebastian.” He did.

Jim picked up a screwdriver and spun it lazily in his fingers.  After fifteen minutes–and he didn’t look at the instructions once–he was testing the water lines and declaring it done.  Then he ran the dryer vent over to a duct on the wall and had that installed in about the same length of time.

“You… uh…you install appliances?”

He smirked as he put the tools away. “Of course, Tiger. How else do you get let into people’s flats and offices.”

“Oh my GOD, that’s genius!”

“Naturally.” He walked up to Sebastian. “Lie down and put your arms to the posts.”

Sebastian did. He didn’t move as his wrists got clipped down. Jim took the tool box away and came back with a familiar looking bag… Sebastian was embarrassed to admit his dick started perking up almost instantly.

“Good, Tiger.” Jim almost purred at him as he got out the violet wand. “Somehow working with tools always gets me a bit interested in seeing what else I can do… but I don’t think you want to see what I can do with a screwdriver and wrench… or a blowtorch.”

Sebastian swallowed hard, “Uh, no? but… uh.. I hadn’t thought electricity was a good idea either…”

“Oh it’s a very, very baaaaad idea, Tiger.”

Jim ran the wand across his body turning the strength up, and down.  He started hitting what were apparently all the nerves in the world, and then immediately using his mouth while the nerves were still screaming, or singing..

“Tzap” right nipple, followed by a soothing caress of a tongue.

“Bzzz” left nipple, and that time Jim caught Sebastian’s nipple in his teeth, and smiled up at him like he was lunch.

By the time Jim finally worked his way down to his crotch, Sebastian was incoherent: his pleas to stop and to continue having little to do with what Jim was doing now…

Jim uncapped the lube and coated his hand, and then Sebastian felt fingers pressed against…. He tensed.

“Relax, Tiger, just think of it as being petted from the inside. You liked it last time.” Jim did something obscene with his tongue and then ran the wand over him.  While he was arching off the bed a finger pressed into him.  Jim started talking quietly… “Breathe in… deep breath… breathe out… there you go, Tiger…” The rolling crackle of electricity was dizzying… he felt pressure and stretching but it felt really good, and then Jim was going down on him again.

Electricity buzzed and increased to painful intensity and back down… he could feel Jim inside of him, and his mouth around him. Then Jim curled his fingers inside of him and…

When he came down off of that high, Jim was looking down at him… still fully dressed, only slightly mussed.

He patted him on the head, “Change the sheets and do the laundry, Tiger.” and unclipped him from the bed.

He lay on the bed, trying to figure out how his life had ever gotten so… _what was WRONG with me that I LIKE this?_

He finally got up, started the laundry, and got back to working out. When he thought to look it turned out the refrigerator had come fully stocked.  It was mostly vegetables and meal shakes, but they weren’t bad.

*

Jim was gone a lot. He stopped by with supplies of food, and sometimes he brought a steak to share.  Sebastian was getting edgy as hell. He jerked off… it was okay but…he replayed his favorite fantasies… some of them worked but memories of Jim kept  coming up too…even some of the stuff that wasn’t sexy at all started taking on a sexual cast in his memories.

Jim must have came in quietly while he was enjoying one of his memories–there had been a girl in Germany, drunk off her ass at the hotel he was in– because he was just really getting going when he heard an amused cough.  He had a momentary flashback to being caught in school as he almost leapt off the bed.

“Am I leaving you alone a bit much?”

Sebastian dropped to his knees. “You… have been gone a lot, Sir.”

“Poor Tiger.”  His voice sounded more predatory than usual. “I’m almost done with my business but I think you may be just the break I needed.”

He was walking up in a way that made Sebastian very, very worried, but he didn’t move.  Jim reached down and stroked his erection… “Hmm… go over to the pillar, Tiger, you’re getting a test. Pass and you get a treat.”

He went, and held his arms up to the rings.

“Oh, no, Tiger.  Test time… Back to the pillar. Your hands can be flat on the pillar, or you can hold your wrists behind you, I don’t care, but those paws stay back. Clear?”

“Yes, sir.”  He backed into the pillar and put himself into parade rest.

“Good Tiger. Stay.”

Jim dropped to his knees and licked his lips.  Sebastian hoped to hell he wasn’t planning to bite anything off. He reached out and delicately gave a few experimental strokes, and then lowered his head and took him all the way down. Sebastian reflexively started to bring his hands around and Jim pulled his head back and GROWLED at him with some very sensitive parts still in his mouth.

Sebastian put his arms back behind his back and held onto himself for dear life.

Jim bobbed his head a few times in rapid succession and then pulled away with a pop.  Sebastian almost screamed. Jim was studying his dick with predatory intensity.  He went back to deep throating him and pulling back, when he pulled back he hummed.  He was rather expertly twisting his hands, while his tongue was exploring Sebastian like he was candy.

Sebastian was panting and he was fairly certain he was going to lose circulation in his arms; he was gripping them so hard.

Jim finally stopped teasing him and started moving his hands, and his mouth, in a rhythm that allowed for no thought at all. He came, and Jim looked up at him with those dark eyes like a shark. Jim slowly pulled himself off, and then he leaned forward and nipped at the skin near the base of Sebastian’s dick.

“I’ll be done with business soon, Tiger.  I expect to teach you a few tricks.”  He licked his lips and got up, keeping eye contact the whole time. “So I hope you were paying attention.”

He walked away and got something from a bag near the door. He tossed it onto the bed. “There’s your treat, Tiger. I’ll be back soon.”

It took Sebastian measurable minutes to manage to unlock his hands for behind his back, at which point his knees gave out and he collapsed.

_How the hell had I ever thought giving a blowjob had to be submissive?_

When he finally managed to go over to the bed, he found a package of liquor filled chocolates.  They were indescribably delicious and despite there being no way it was possible, he felt drunk.

*

Jim came back what must have been a day later. Sebastian stopped lifting weights and got on his knees. Jim almost bounced in. there was nothing at all dangerous about him today– he looked cheerful.

“Sebastian?  You did mention that you liked to  take people down a bit?”

“Yes, sir…?”

“I brought home a toy.  You can bat him around a bit, in fact I’d love to watch you work–I really don’t think anyone taught you properly.”

“I don’t understand? Sir?”

“I brought you home a prisoner.” He said sounding very pleased.

“For… me?”

“Yes!”

“I can… I can hurt him? Sir?” Sebastian wanted to be absolutely sure he understood this.

“I need him alive, cooperative, and able to talk. Normally I’d do it myself but you’ve been a good boy…”

“Please sir?!”

“Use a condom.” Jim nodded. “He’s been tested clean, but you never can be too careful.”

Sebastian considered. “May I get up, sir?” Jim nodded and he got up and took off the jock strap, he left the shoes on.

Jim looked at him and said very seriously, “He’s in the next room, Tiger. I’ll have to let you off your leash to go there.  If you misbehaved, I would be very upset.”

“I… understand, sir.”

Sebastian got back onto his knees and Jim came up and unlocked the line from his collar. For a brief moment Sebastian thought about it and then he forced himself to relax. Jim would have a weapon, or a plan, or something. It would never work anyway.

“There’s my good Tiger,” Jim smiled and petted his neck. “Come on; let’s give those claws a work out.”


	12. Punching bag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW for not at all graphic rape, beatings, etc

Sebastian was still having trouble believing it.  He was actually unconnected to a wall, or a bed or a floor, or anything for the first time in what felt like forever. It was eerie– he felt like the floor might suddenly open up under him or something.  Jim stayed behind him, and directed him through the door.  To one side there was a short distance to a wall, and an electrical junction box, in the other direction the hall stretched on for a ways, but they went just a short distance down and across the hall through another door.  A part of him wanted to turn and run back into his room.

_Now I know what they mean when they talk about how hard it is to get zoo animals out of their cage…_

Jim took him into a small room, smaller than his first cell, but it had some similarities. Concrete walls, a heavy duty winch, some differences… a metal bed, with a plastic covered mattress… and, uh, a laundry cart that was making muffled moaning noises.

Jim grabbed a chair and put it down facing the door, the sat down backwards on it and leaned on the chair back. “All yours, Tiger.” He waved at a foot locker. “Handcuffs, chains, control to the winch, and some basic supplies are in there. If you need anything else just let me know.”

“It’s…weird… with you…” he tried to explain but Jim just looked at him.  He sighed and went over to the laundry cart.

There was a moderately good looking guy, beefy, looked like a gym rat– not work muscles, gym muscles– hands cuffed behind his back, legs cuffed together, gagged… Sebastian hauled him out and looked him over critically– he glared and tried to fight, which was useless as trussed up as he was.  Sebastian looked at a chain hanging from the winch and glanced at Jim, who was just sitting there looking curious at him… _Well, I’d never used a winch, better not to try now._

As he tossed the guy onto the bed, Sebastian began to wonder if he’d been brought to his cell in a laundry cart.

*

He’d pummeled the insurgent half to death, for spitting on him, after that they’d talked to him about where to punch people without doing too much damage.  I mean, that was kind of the opposite of what they taught you in combat school, so it was a bit weird.  The important thing was not to shatter any ribs, and not to bust up the kidneys too much.  You could crack ribs, usually, because honestly that could have happened any number of ways, but a really badly broken rib could puncture a lung and then they died on you.

*

This guy was reduced to muffled groaning when a fist landed when Sebastian let up. _God it felt good to hit someone again_.  He’d be black and blue all through his torso, but Sebastian was certain he hadn’t done any permanent damage.  He stepped back, sweating…

“Should I get you a punching bag, Tiger?”

Sebastian jumped slightly; he’d gotten so focused on this guy… “Might be a good idea, sir.  It feels good to hit something again,” he glanced over cautiously, to see if Jim was upset– he just looked interested and sort of … like he was studying the whole scene.

He tried to pull himself together, but he still felt unsettled, and it was hard to really project menace at the guy when he was spooked about Jim.

He took the gag out of the guy’s mouth, and kept out of the way when he spat at him– a practiced move by this point.

“I take it you want to let him keep all his teeth?” Sebastian asked cautiously.

“It would be better.”

Sebastian shrugged and tossed him around a bit, finally ending up with him face down over the bed.

*

The first time he’d buggered a guy was at boarding school.  It was kind of the usual thing, he wasn’t that interested in the kid, but he was a frosh, and it was the usual way of putting someone in their place, and the other guys would call you gay if you didn’t…

…which never made sense later, but at the time it seemed logical.

Later, when he was in military school, it was a routine hazing ritual, and a benefit for the upperclassmen that came along with having someone to shine your boots and clean up after you.  It didn’t mean anything much to be some upperclassman’s pet frosh, but it was kind of assumed they were yours, and only yours, unless you loaned them out.  He didn’t hurt those guys, unless they mouthed off or something, because that was just... well, you had to work with those guys.

There’d been one guy; though–Charles… he’d been sent to military school to get the gay marched out of him or something. He hadn’t wanted to be there, and he wasn’t athletic at all.  He was slim, and delicate looking, and intellectual and might as well have had “fresh meat” stamped on his ass.  He actually ended up in the nurse’s office with a bad beating twice before the administration stepped in and put their foot down.

They’d assigned him to Sebastian to look after; probably figuring that getting beaten up by one guy was better than being beaten up by a dozen. Sebastian had hated it at first– having this guy around all the time when he was basically useless– but after he got over being miffed, he found out he kind of liked the look.  He especially liked the look when the guy was tied to the bed by his belt, whimpering, but he wasn’t bad looking bent over a desk, either.

*

He finished up with the guy.  He wasn’t bleeding much–he’d used a condom and a fair amount of lube– and a critical look over said he’d recover pretty quickly with rest. Sebastian was feeling a lot calmer, almost mellow, until he looked over at Jim.

Jim looked bored.

“Done, Tiger?”

“Yes… Sir?  Is. Is something wrong? He was begging to talk to you…” the guy punctuated this by moaning.

Jim just shook his head, “that’s a lot of damage to him for the results you got... I suppose it’s a nice try, Tiger, but you need to learn to get more results with less." He looked sympathetic at him, “You were probably just a bit worked up.”

Sebastian narrowed his eyes, “He’ll tell you anything you want to know and it’s only been–”

Jim smiled at him a bit sadly, “of course, Tiger.  In any event, yes, you look quite good with your muscles flexing like that.” He shrugged, “I’ll get you a punching bag, too.”

“I suppose you know anyone who could do better?”

“I could, Tiger.  It just does tend to tire me out, what with my not having the brawn for it–”

He bit back the snap response of “Bollocks!”

Jim arched an eyebrow, “You don’t think so?”

“No… Sir.”

“Stay.” Jim took the laundry cart and walked out. Sebastian heard the door lock.

“Fuck!” he looked down at the guy and growled, “Like anyone else could have done better.” The guy cringed.

After not too many minutes, the door unlocked and Jim rolled the cart back in. This time the cart was shaking and thrashing and muffled curses were coming out of it.

“He had more time to get worked up.” Jim commented. “Haul him out and get him hooked up to the winch, Tiger, and I’ll give you a quick lesson.”

Sebastian went to haul the guy out and almost got his nose broken.  Hands locked behind his back weren’t slowing this guy down much… _Holy shit it’s Benny…_

Benny stared at him in shock, Sebastian stared back.

Jim blinked, “Friend of yours?”

“Not even remotely…” Sebastian snarled.

Benny tried to get loose, or kill him, or both. Sebastian pulled his fist back but before he could land a punch he heard the telltale crackle of electricity… he froze.

“Tiger…” Jim said it gently, but the electric sparks popping and sizzling from the object in his hand enforced some attention, “I can’t demonstrate if you kill him.”

“Sir, with all due respect–” Benny tried to clamber out of the cart, which was impressive given the handcuffs and cuffed ankles. Jim just shook the edge of the cart and he fell back into it cursing.

“Not a friend, so you shouldn’t have any trouble with me breaking him, right?” Jim said cheerfully.

“Trouble? Shit, I could sell tickets, Sir, but you aren’t going to be able to–”

“Can you get him onto the winch?”

Sebastian eyed Benny dubiously, “maybe with his hands behind him, since that’s how he’s cuffed.”

Jim shrugged, “haul him out, drop him, and stand back for a second.”

Sebastian did, Benny came off the floor in a moment trying to go after Sebastian. Jim tapped him in the stomach with the electric thing and… boom, he was down on the ground curled up and almost having a seizure.

_Oh, so that’s what he’d hit me with…._

“Re-cuff his arms to the front and hook him up, Sebastian, I don’t have all day.”

A very cautious Sebastian got him re cuffed before Benny could move again, and Jim pulled him to his feet with the winch. Sebastian got kicked a few times getting his ankles clipped to the floor, so by the time he was fully restrained Sebastian was in a mood for murder.

“This is why I didn’t let you wake up until I had your room set up.” Jim said sounding amused.  Sebastian looked over to realize Jim was sitting on the bed, idly petting the first guy, who was cowering from him.

Jim stood up and smiled.  That specific smile sent Sebastian to his knees before he could think. He was shivering, and he heard Benny–even through the gag– saying “what the hell?”

“There’s my good Tiger.” Jim said. He sort of idly petted him after he walked up. “Go sit with your play toy, darling. There should be an ice pack to put on that bruise, too.”

Sebastian was over to the bed very quickly.  He sat and pulled his legs up under him, watching Jim warily.  Benny stared at him over Jim’s head.

“Now then, I don’t have the brawn to work a slab of muscle like this over without tools… but the principles are the same.” Jim said pleasantly over his shoulder at Sebastian, “So I expect you to pay attention.”

Jim turned back to Benny, who was looking confused more than worried.  Sebastian couldn’t help but remember how much he’d underestimated Jim back at the beginning.

“So, Benny…” Jim sounded so casual, “I’m about to use you as a teaching demonstration, so please feel free to scream. We’re in a soundproofed basement but even if any sound did get out no one is on the floor above us right now anyway.  Sad to say I can’t use just my fists–I don’t have the strength– but I manage.”

Jim picked a familiar looking object up out of the laundry cart.  It was a thin piece of plastic, attached to a handle, and looked like it might be magic wand or something...  Jim gave it a few swishes in the air and you could see the tip bend slightly.  Sebastian remembered slashing pain and a wounded back… from sometime back in the haze between losing consciousness, waking up, and finally being allowed to sleep…

“So let’s get started, shall we?” Jim walked around to behind Benny and glanced over at Sebastian, “Class is in session, Tiger.”


	13. class is in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim demonstrates, and Sebastian has some concerns...  
> TW for homophobic language, non graphic torture, etc.

Sebastian first met Benny while playing bouncer and guard at one of his boss’s clubs.  Benny worked for the opposition.  He was about as tall as Sebastian, and wider, but strictly brute force.  The problem was he was damn good at it. Benny had a limited education, a passion for sports, and a hobby of beating opposition sports fans on a Saturday night. _Well, hey, I could respect that…_ but he also noticed Sebastian sounded “posh” and took an instant dislike to him, which made their run-ins increasingly personal.

They’d ended up being pitted against each other in a betting match by their bosses which pissed Sebastian off–and he made it very clear that  he wouldn’t put up with that again, ever– but he went along with it because it was a chance to beat the snot out of Benny.

Benny, unfortunately, turned out to have the advantage in down and dirty hand to hand.  He was faster than he looked and stronger than Sebastian and apparently just as enthused about getting a chance to beat the snot out of HIM.  Sebastian took a couple of shots that really hurt before he  snapped out of it and went back to the more refined combat styles  he’d learned in the military.  Benny was the better brawler, but he wasn’t prepared for a martial kick to the gut.

They’d been hauled out of the ring, spitting blood and trying to kill each other.  Benny lost three teeth, Sebastian only kept the one loose tooth by virtue of a really good dentist, and they both were laid up for weeks.  After that their bosses apparently made a habit of keeping them on opposite sides of the turf, but they still crossed paths occasionally.  Benny tried to run him over with a motorcycle once, Sebastian knifed him in passing in a bar fight…

*

Sebastian was sitting with an ice bag on a few spots, watching Jim work, and feeling like a complete amateur. Jim had hit Benny with a switch up and down in stripes on one leg, and then started a slow walk with an occasional strike apparently at random across his back and stomach.  It took a while for Sebastian to see the effects…

Benny could only keep weight on one leg without pain, so he was standing on one leg, putting strain on all of his hip, back, and stomach muscles.  Jim was hitting the muscles Benny needed to keep his weight off his bad leg, or arms… and Benny was getting weaker by the minute. Almost all his weight was on his arms, and he kept struggling to get his feet under him.

Sebastian was having uncomfortable memories of his first few… days? Weeks?

“Now, if I had the strength for it I’d just hit this muscle here a few times…” Jim stroked a muscle in Benny’s side, lovingly, “but as it is I have to resort to electricity.”  He didn’t use the cattle prod thing; he used something with a couple of pads, and a little box with a dial. As Jim turned it up he saw muscles contracting on Benny, and Benny’s breathing got more ragged.

By that point Benny was hanging from his arms, and occasionally trying to get the one leg under him–he usually failed.  He’d stopped keeping his head up a while ago. Jim took the pads and put them on Benny’s left shoulder.  Then he stopped.

“Now... Benny was it?” Jim asked pleasantly.  Benny tried to nod. “I have a few questions…” Jim pulled the gag.  Benny might have tried to spit, but Sebastian didn’t think he had the energy or the muscle strength left.

“Go… to… Hell.” Benny’s voice was ragged and lacked any authority at all.

Jim just nodded and turned up the dial.  His one shoulder contracted and bunched, he collapsed onto the other wrist, making a sort of gasping noise.

“Stop... stop…”

“Now you wouldn’t want to make a poor showing in front of Sebie, would you?” Jim said laughing.  Sebastian tried very hard to look menacing but he was pretty sure cowering on the bed didn’t cut it. “Please, do hold out a bit before answering my questions…Sebie held out very fiercely, it was quite impressive.”

Sebastian actually felt some pride at that, until he remembered that Jim had never once asked him anything.  It hit Sebastian pretty hard, then:

_He never asked me anything.  The only time he asked me anything at all was after I volunteered it–about my job offer in London–  he… wasn’t… trying … he never had any information he was fishing for, there was never any information to make it stop… he wanted me.  He wanted a tame Tiger._

*

Sebastian watched quietly, lining up what Jim was doing to Benny against his scattered memories. Every now and then Benny lifted his head enough–or Jim lifted his chin with the quirt, which Sebastian vaguely recalled happening to him as well– and their eyes met. Sebastian always looked away first.  He hoped to hell his eyes had never looked that…

Benny started begging to answer questions.

Jim looked sort of puzzled at him. “Are you sure, I mean, I haven’t even gotten out–”

“Please… whatever you want…”

Jim shrugged, “Tiger?”

“Y-yes, Sir?”

“You have a new toy.  The voice recorder is in the box along with the paper and pencil if you prefer old school notes, find out about his organization, will you?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Jim dragged a hand down Benny’s wounded back– Sebastian had a vague memory of pain– “Oh, I already have most of what I need, by the way– I got that from good old fashioned bribes– but Sebastian needed the practice and lessons.” He turned to Sebastian, “Do you want to keep that one, Tiger?” nodding at the gym rat on the bed.

“N-no, sir.” Truthfully he’d forgotten about him.

“Then put him in the laundry cart and I’ll take him out. He’s sort of good looking, don’t you think?”

Sebastian ducked his head and hauled the guy to the laundry cart.  He’d been watching too, and was terrified. “I guess? If you like that type.”

Jim looked down at the cart thoughtfully. “Well…. Maybe I’ll make a project of him. I could use a decorative driver or something… Anyway,” Jim tapped Sebastian lightly on the shoulder with the quirt; Sebastian dropped to his knees. His shoulder felt like it was burning, but he was pretty sure Jim had barely touched him.

“Practice, Tiger.  You have enough martial arts training, use it.  If nothing else you can follow the whip marks for where to hit, but honestly there are nerve clusters all over the body.”

“Yes, Sir.” Sebastian could FEEL Benny’s eyes on him-he didn’t care.

“Use a condom if you want to do that.”  Jim reached down and stroked at his neck, a lot of the tension bled out of him. “I’m not mad at you, Tiger; you just need training and practice, okay?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Jim  stepped forward until Sebastian’s forehead was pressed into Jim’s stomach, and he ran his hands down Sebastian’s neck and shoulders, he gave a few firm rubs into the tension Sebastian had been carrying.  Sebastian kept his hands on his knees, but he melted into it.

“Now you practice, and be good, and when I get back you get a treat.  You can go back to your room for the shower and food if you need to, you don’t need to stay here once you’re done.”  Jim squeezed his shoulder and went out with the cart; Sebastian tried to get himself pulled back together.

After a while he stood up and stared at Benny.  He got the controller and let him down to his knees, the moan of relief sounded far too familiar.

“You know… I almost feel sorry for you…”

“Fuck you…” he wheezed. “You’re his faggot…”

Sebastian shrugged, “I’m his pet Tiger, apparently.” Then a thought struck him and he asked, “Do… Do you know what the date was?”

“What?” he shook his head and peered up at Sebastian.

“The date.  I’ve been here–a prisoner anyway– since Jim took my boss down.”

Benny stared at him, and slowly told him the date.  Sebastian sat down on the bed. He swallowed very hard, “That’s… it?  That’s all?”

Benny tried to lunge to his feet, and mostly failed.  Sebastian didn’t bother to react, Benny’s feet were clipped down, and he knew EXACTLY how far you could get like that.

“Looks like you’re his fuck toy.  He got you sucking him off for–”

Sebastian hit the winch control and watched someone else get yanked back to their feet.  He stopped it with Benny off his feet, pulled between the winch and the floor lock. Benny shrieked briefly and was making this sort of drawn out noise that got on Sebastian’s nerves. He let him down until his feet were on the ground and he shut up.

“Shut up Benny.” Sebastian didn’t have much energy behind it, he was thinking.

“Well if that’s the bastard who got your boss, and I’m guessing he got mine, looks like he might need a bodyguard,” Benny was glaring at him. “So he has your poncey ass stripped naked and sucking his dick, maybe he needs someone to handle the real dirty work.”

Benny probably said more, but Sebastian wasn’t listening.

Sebastian was getting cold chills. _Benny hadn’t raped Jim–probably hadn’t hurt him at all._

Benny could take Sebastian on in a fight…what if… _what if Jim liked him? What if he decided he needed someone who was stronger than me?  Benny could sure as hell give someone a worse beating than I could…_

_Jim said he wasn’t strong, so he’d had to be smart… He’d said he kept me, even after what I’d done, because I was smart. Benny wasn’t nearly as smart…_

Sebastian’s eyes were narrowed as he got off the bed. Something must have gotten through to Benny because he shut up.

“You know… I never bothered to be really smart about beating anyone–never had to be I guess– but the boss wants me to get better at it… and you’re here…” _and no fucking way am I letting you replace me, you sonofabitch._

Benny sneered something about letting him out of the chains and trying it. Sebastian just stared at him “I was never that stupid, Benny.”

Sebastian gave an experimental jab–nowhere near as hard as he would normally hit– right into a spot crossed by multiple lash marks– Benny screamed...  Sebastian paused for a moment just to enjoy that sound…

“Let me tell you something you didn’t know, Benny…”  Sebastian lined up a shot and hit him right into his abused shoulder– Benny didn’t make much more than a gasped noise, but his mouth was open and his legs buckled.  “when I was in the military I was one of the guys who took prisoners out back to soften them up…” he hit him a couple times in rapid succession, jabbing punches without his full strength behind them, but being way more careful about placement.  Benny jerked and cried out quietly. “And that last guy that was in here…” Sebastian hit him in the back of the lashed knee, “I just pretty much beat the shit out of him, because yeah, I was frustrated.”

He stepped back and studied him. He was breathing really hard, muscles shot to hell, all the weight hanging from his arms…

“Jim was right. That had been a sloppy damned job: I was just frustrated, maybe I do need a punching bag.” He hit him in the gut about four times, and Benny started to wheeze, unable to double over. Sebastian walked over and let the winch play out until he was on his knees again.

“I’m going to go get cleaned up and get some food.  Consider yourself lucky I don’t leave you hanging from your arms.”

Sebastian walked out the door and saw a piece of paper taped to the wall. There was a big arrow pointing down the hall, and the word “Tiger”. He turned that way and found the door to his room had been labeled with “Den”.  He laughed and went in… he found a sandwich in the fridge that looked utterly delicious, ate that– it WAS utterly delicious– and was halfway through the shower when…

_None of the doors were locked and I’m not on a leash._

He very slowly dried off and put his socks and sneakers back on.  He hesitantly opened the door, half expecting it to have locked behind him–it opened.  He walked down the hall to where the note with the arrow was, opposite the door with Benny… he hadn’t looked: that door turned out to be labeled “toy”.

He very shakily kept walking. He almost had to force himself to look up. There were other doors, on the same side as Benny’s door, they had no labels.  There was a door at the end of the hallway with a red “Exit” sign over it… as he got closer he realized it had a small note stuck to it.  When he got close enough he found it was a very small note with the word “No” written on it.

He stood there staring at it for a long time.

_Am I that scared of what Jim would do if I tried to escape?  Is this even really a door out?_

After a while he went quietly back to his room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In truth, this chapter is when Sebastian makes the final switch from prisoner, to pet: when he starts being concerned about Jim replacing him with Benny. Its never a clear cut 100% thing, people are complicated, but if you could point at one spot in time? this would be it.


	14. That would mess somebody up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flogging for dessert

Sebastian walked on the treadmill–just walked, nothing strenuous.  He was lost in his own thoughts and didn’t hear Jim come in.

“…Sebastian?” Sebastian had a vague idea that he’d heard his name called before, and raised his head to look.  He ALMOST dropped to his knees on the treadmill; luckily he remembered to get off of it first.

“Sorry, Sir.” He said from his knees.

“I would have thought you would be in a good mood?  It looked like you did a lot better with… Benny.” Jim paused as though he was remembering his name.

“Yes, sir. You were right; I was just frustrated with the first one.”

“His name’s David.” Jim said calmly, “I’ll have him retrained as a driver or general aide.”

Sebastian kept his head down and tried to think of how to ask…

“Out with it, Tiger, what’s wrong?”

“You…” he trailed off, Jim just stood there patiently. “You didn’t just do all this to get rid of me: you wanted me for something?”

“I told you, Sebastian, I wanted a pet Tiger.  You did a lot better with Benny, and once you get a bit more training you’ll be even better.  You like hurting people, I can use that.”

“E-even though I hurt you?” Sebastian swallowed, “You… you said I would make it up to you.”

“Yes, yes you will.” Jim laughed suddenly, “Is this because he was talking about you being my rent boy?”

“I suppose I am.” Sebastian said quietly.

“Well, if so you’re a damned lazy one,” Jim was snickering. “Hell, I should get a blow job at least if you were.”

“Did… Is that what you want?”

“Tiger, I have yet to turn down a sincerely offered blow job and I won’t be starting any time soon, but seriously… what’s got you so tense?”

“I hurt you.”

“Yes, you did.”

“If… If I can make it up to you, I want to…” Sebastian tried not to cringe. _God I am so whipped._

Jim sighed, “Tiger, it’s going to take a lot more than one day to make it up to me, but I KNEW that when I decided to keep you.” he stood there tapping his finger against his chin in that thoughtful fashion he had.

“Alright, Tiger, if you want to start getting a few lessons in that side of things, we can work on it. Are you feeling calmer?”

“Uh… yes?”

“Do you need to go hit Benny a few more times to get that out of your system?  What i have in mind won’t be doing anything for your sadistic side.”

“You plan on using the belt again, sir?” _God help me that sounded interesting._

“I could use a flog, Sebastian, but I had in mind teaching you a bit about blow jobs, since you asked.  How about flogging you as dessert?”

Sebastian almost laughed at the idea that being flogged was “dessert”.

“Get your mat out; put it over near the pillar and use the three foot chain to your ankle, alright? I’ll go get a few things.”

Sebastian did.  He kept kicking himself the whole time. “You’re loose, and you are about to lock your damned ankle back to a ring, what are you STUPID?” He muttered to himself, even as he closed the locks.  He glared down at the chain and got back down on his knees on the mat. “Stupid.”

Jim came back in with a small bag. “Awww… why the long face Tiger? Seriously? What’s bothering you? Would you rather get something to eat first?”

“I feel stupid… sir.”

“If you were stupid I wouldn’t bother to keep you.” Jim said matter of factly. “All right, first things first… lie down face up, and pay attention.”

Jim started using his hands to get him hard, “If you’re just getting started with blow jobs, it’s a bit easier if the person is at least semi-erect to begin with…” Jim started giving him lessons as if this was an honest to God class. “There are some advantages to starting from the beginning with your mouth, but–”

Sebastian started snickering and Jim stopped, looking at him oddly.

“Sorry, Sir.” Sebastian shrugged, “It sounds like a comedy skit… like a professor teaching a class…”

Jim smirked, “well, yes, I suppose it does, but I somehow didn’t think you’d pay enough attention if i didn’t talk at least part of the time.” Jim ducked his head down and licked a stripe up Sebastian’s dick, finishing by running his tongue over the tip like it was an ice cream.  Sebastian’s head hit the mat and he moaned.

“What’s really important is watching your partner.  Now I already have a pretty good idea what you like, including a bit of teeth,” Jim went down on him again and suddenly the pressure and suction was intense–Sebastian tried to thrust up into him without thinking– Jim slowly pulled his mouth away, “but not everyone likes that, Tiger.”

“Does it matter what anyone else likes?” Sebastian realized how that might sound and added quickly, “I mean, it matters what you like…”

“Well, first of all,” Jim said, while keeping up a steady but unexciting stroke with his hand, “I might be in a mood for something a bit different, it helps to watch and pay attention.” Sebastian nodded “Secondly… how to put this…”  Jim looked thoughtful. “I’m going to ask you to think about something that may be a bit unpleasant, Tiger…”

“Alright…”

“How did it make you feel, the first time you had to deal with the fact that you enjoyed what I did?  Even though you didn’t want to be here?”

“I… I don’t really…”Sebastian frowned; he really couldn’t bring it to mind.

“Okay, Imagine that someone, oh, like Benny, was being held down, couldn’t leave, and you fucked him a good one…”

Sebastian grinned a bit, “Way too good for him.”

“Okay, how about David?”

“Didn’t I?”

Jim sighed, “What if you hurt him, you held him down, he didn’t want to have anything to do with you… and you made him enjoy it?”

Sebastian blinked. _Wow, that would mess someone up…_

He blinked again and it felt like every muscle in his body locked up.  _That’s what Jim did to me._

He distantly heard Jim say something about that being why you got a leg chain… and then Jim was going back down on him.  Sebastian wanted to crawl away, he wanted to push Jim off, but… but… _well, I mean… I was chained here, I really can’t do anything… yes I could I could throw him off me, I could …. Get punished? Instead of having this… and it felt wonderful…_

His last coherent thought was _“Which was exactly what he was talking about…”_

Jim outdid himself on the blow job–Sebastian hadn’t thought it was possible, but he did.  Somehow  that ended with Jim guiding him back up to his knees, and facing the pillar, just sort of hugging it, and then…

There was a sudden shock across his shoulders, and another one across his back… and it felt like heat racing from his crotch to his skull.

“If you can’t stay upright, darling, try to put your hands on the ground and keep your back up… it’s tough to hit properly if you collapse.” Jim’s voice sounded amused. Sebastian did his best to brace.

A lash across his shoulders and there was something that felt like pain…another, and he was vibrating, he wanted to move, to fuck something, to…lightning and something that felt like warm oil… he lost track of time, it was just sensation. He was pretty sure he was crying.

It hurt, it hurt a lot more than the belt, but it left a trail of insane sensitivity behind it. Somewhere in there Jim was petting him.

“There’s my good Tiger… Come on, over to the bed, I’m too old and too rich to work on the floor.”

Sebastian followed him without really thinking.  Jim moved him onto the bed and more warm oil was pouring over his back, only without the lash.  Jim started rubbing it in. Sometimes it hurt and sometimes it didn’t, and Sebastian was having trouble telling the difference.

“Tiger? Sebie?”

“hmmmm?”

“Feeling up to a bit more?” Jim had somehow gotten a finger inside him; it felt strange but not bad… Sebastian remembered how good that could feel and the warm sensation got warmer.

“Sure…” he was pretty sure he slurred.

Jim spent a lot of time doing things to him.  It felt nice, even if it stayed kind of weird. Eventually there was a difference… There was a warm weight on his back, and hands rubbing over him, and he felt oddly… full.  He shifted his weight to try to figure it out and a hand rubbed at his sore shoulder.

“Easy there, Tiger.”

The sensation was… well, it was okay. Every now and then there were flashes of pleasure like sparks… and Jim reached around him and did some truly wonderful things…  it was comforting, and somewhere in there he fell asleep.

*

Sebastian woke up from a peculiar mix of images.  He’d dreamt of being a Tiger again, sunning on a rock; he’d been fucking some boy, maybe Charles from school, over a bed, while Jim did something with a lash; he was running and there was an endless hallway full of doors…

He blinked, his eyes felt glued shut, but he managed to see a bottle of water by the bed side.  He reached over to get it and ….ow… the sensation of pain across his back was almost immediately followed by a feeling that he couldn’t quite describe, but it felt good.

He cautiously reached for the bottle again and felt things pull and sting across his back.  He sat up slowly.  _Ohhhh yeah, that hurt_.

He sat there drinking water and wondering why he didn’t mind so much.  There was a note on the bedside table:

 

Sebastian,

You were a very good Tiger, but I still have business to tend to and you aren’t quite up to helping out yet.  If you don’t know how to launder blood stains, just throw the sheets in the washer with some detergent on cold, and DON’T dry them. I’ll be back later.

Jim

P.S. you can go play with your toy if you want to, but you don’t have to.

 

_Blood? Why would he need to know how to…_

He looked back at the sheets. It looked like some bird had started her monthly, and then finger painted it in stripes…

He stretched his back and felt the ache, and the slight pull…

 _That… that came off of me?  Holy Shit…_ he forced himself to think bit more calmly.  It was white sheets, even a little blood would look like a lot, and none of it was pooled, or puddled, it was stripey and smeared…

_Whatever he’d used to flog me with had drawn some blood… and then I’d rolled over on the sheets, that’s all._

He pulled the sheets and stuffed them into the washer.  He got a wash cloth and wiped off the plastic mattress cover, and tossed that in too.  He set it on cold, with some detergent, like Jim had said to, and got into the shower.

It stung a bit, but every time it did it also pretty well reminded him of just how much he’d enjoyed it…

_Jim hit me with some kind of whip… and I was bleeding… and I left bloody streaks on the bed…and I kind of want to do it again… what the hell is WRONG with me?_

_“What if you hurt him, you held him down, he didn’t want to have anything to do with you… and you made him enjoy it?”_

_Wow, that would mess someone up…_


	15. Free Range Tiger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bye Benny...

Jim left him off the leash.  He got a steak dinner that night, and Jim treated his back, and Sebastian very pointedly didn’t think about it at all. He hosed off Benny at some point when he thought about it, and gave him one of the meal shakes… and beat the living hell out of him when he spat it at him.

But he did it carefully. Jim approved.

After what Sebastian thought was a couple of days, but with no clocks it was hard to tell, Benny was a wreck.

“Do you mind if I take your toy away, Sebastian? I’ll get you a new one, but he’s pretty well outlived any usefulness.” Jim asked him over a lamb dinner that was utterly heavenly.

“I… Are you going to keep him, Sir?”

“What?” Jim stared at him, and then he laughed, “Oh is THAT what you were worried about? No, Tiger, he’s got no value to me at all. I was planning on leaving his body in Gerrmand’s territory.”

 _Oh thank God…_ “Wasn’t Gerrmand allied with Benny’s old boss?”

“Yes, so they’ll take it as a message from the nasty people who took his gang down and that should ignite spectacularly.”

“Would… would you like help?”

Jim looked thoughtful at him. “You can help load him in the van… do you want to break him up a bit first?”

Sebastian perked up. “How much breaking?”

“Oh, well... I wanted to teach you a few things about how to hurt someone properly, but when he’s found he just needs to look brutalized.  I rather expected to take a bat to his knees or something.”

Sebastian was fairly certain he sighed happily, “I can do that, I can HAPPILY do that. In fact I will ENTHUSIASTICALY do that!”

Jim just laughed.  “Well go on then, Tiger.  Give the bruises time to develop before he dies though.”

Jim got him a cricket bat, Sebastian took out every bit of pent up frustration he had on Benny and only just avoided killing him outright, cleaned up and waited.

Jim came in what must have been hours later.  “Here you go, Tiger.”

 _Clothes. Real clothes!_   Sebastian pulled on what must have been the comfiest set of clothes in existence. He was fairly certain the shirt was from one of the better shops just by feeling it, and the sweater was grand.  He looked up after pulling them all on and found Jim looking over smiling up happily. “You look very good, Sebastian.  That shows promise toward you making the right impression once you’re working with me properly.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sadly you should pull this on too.” Jim handed him what looked like painters coveralls.  He thought about Benny and nodded–wouldn’t want to get a mess on the clothes. They went over to Benny’s room and unlocked him, and hauled him out. Jim walked back past Sebastian’s room to the end of the hall.

“Sebastian… I’m betting you wondered if that exit with the “no” sign on it was a real exit…”

“It had an exit sign over it, but…” Sebastian nodded.  He was dragging the unconscious Benny along; Jim didn’t want to get blood in the laundry cart.

“It wasn’t.”  Jim grabbed the electrical box on the wall and pulled.  The entire wall came down. It was just a sheet of plywood with paint and signs and an empty electrical box on it.  The door was behind it.  Sebastian just stared and then looked at the far other end of the hall.

The exit door… was right here.  Just maybe a dozen feet from his door. It was closer than Benny’s room…

Jim giggled. “I always loved secret doors, but they make them so complicated in the movies.”

He opened the door and… it was a closed garage, with a couple of vans and a car…

Jim went to a van marked for a painter’s firm, and got into a coverall. He unrolled a plastic tarp and put it in the back of the van.

“So… Tiger... feel like a drive?”

“I- I can?”

“If you are VERY good.  If you don’t think you can be good, then better to go back to your room.”

He thought longingly about sunlight… “I’ll be good, Sir.”

Jim reached up and rubbed the side of his head, “Good, I could use a hand getting him shoved out of the van. Load him up and get in the passenger seat.”

They drove out of what turned out to be a former industrial building–it seemed to be under construction. Sebastian didn’t say anything; he was busy staring at a whole world he had almost forgotten about.  Places he’d been posted in the military seemed more real than this.  They went from what looked like gentrifying industry areas, to working neighborhoods, and finally into what Sebastian vaguely recognized as Gerrmand’s territory.  Jim told him where to dump Benny, Sebastian made sure he was dead and then rolled him out as they drove.  It was bitingly cold outside, which shouldn’t have surprised him but it did.  He began to understand why Jim had given him a sweater.

They kept driving. Eventually Jim pulled into a closed garage and hopped out. “You’re tall Tiger, Come here and help.” 

Sebastian got out. Somehow being inside a warehouse like room felt… more comfortable. _Fuck_ … Jim pointed and handed him a paint scraper. 

“The sign is a vinyl decal; try to get it off in one piece? I’ll go change the plate.”

The sign for the paint company peeled right off.  There was a different, and much nicer, logo for a different paint company under it. 

Jim came back around. “Roll it up if you can, toss it in back and let’s get moving.”

As they drove back, Jim asked, “How are you doing on your first foray out?”

“It’s… strange.” He admitted.

Jim nodded. “The building you’ve been in is being re-done into condos. Your room will eventually be the in house gym.”

“That… makes sense.”  Sebastian tried to think about the layout, not the current use. “Benny’s room?”

“Eventually part of the laundry room.” Jim said cheerfully. “We only need to hose it down enough to avoid questions. The refurbishment takes care of everything else.”

“I’m… going to move, then?”  Sebastian didn’t think Jim would kill him at this point… he hoped…

“Well, eventually.” Jim shrugged. “But they’ll be stripping the whole level. By that point I would hope you’d be able to be in your own place.”

“My… I get my own place?”

“Yes, Tiger, you get your own place, just like now, only closer to work, and hopefully a lot more comfortable.” Jim added after a pause, “You’ll be able to come and go on your own by then.”

Sebastian sat there staring outside; trying to get his head around the idea of being in London again, coming and going when he wanted to… it was… it was odd. He suddenly realized they were in the wrong part of London to be going back. “Uh… where are we going, Sir?”

“You’ve been a very good, well behaved Tiger.  I thought you might like a treat.”

“This… doesn’t look like an area for a steak dinner…”

Jim snickered, “Not that kind of treat, Tiger. Now you keep behaving.”

They pulled up into a lot near an industrial area.  The parking lot was full of all sorts of cars and vehicles. There was a lot of noise, including something that appeared to be tumbling rocks for concrete or something.

 _If Jim wanted to get rid of me, this would be the place for it_.  Sebastian tried to reassure himself that it was unlikely.

“Hands, Tiger.”

Sebastian held his hands out, expecting to be chained, and hoping whatever was about to happen really was a treat and not… not…

Jim pulled out a small hex wrench and took off his wrist cuffs. They came off so easily with the right tools…

Sebastian stared at him.  His wrists felt weird, he’d had cuffs, or chains or something on them for so long.  Jim slid a pair of sweat bands onto them... it felt comforting­.

“Better?” Jim asked. Sebastian nodded slowly. “Covers up the marks, too.”  Jim got out and peeled off the coveralls.  “Bag the coveralls, and the tarp. We’ll throw it in the trash later.”

Sebastian did. His hands felt too light, it was like the first time he went back to wearing regular shoes after combat boots.

Jim walked into the building and Sebastian followed.  There was a man behind a bulletproof glass in what looked like a dispatch office who jerked up when he saw Jim. Jim just waved at him and kept walking.

There was a garage, with a lot of cars, some being taken apart, Sebastian and Jim were both very over dressed for this place.  Jim went through a heavy door and started down the stairs.  The smell of solvent and gasoline faded and…

_Guns. That was the smell of guns._

“You look like a Tiger smelling game, you know.” Jim was smiling at him, standing in front of a door. “Now Tiger, you be a good boy and be on your very best behavior…” Jim opened the door, the sound of muffled firing got louder, and the familiar smell of  guns, and targets, and …

Sebastian walked in after Jim in a daze.  He was walking into a firing range.  Jim talked briefly to some guy who kept looking suspiciously at Sebastian, Sebastian barely noticed.  Looking through the observation window he could see people firing pistols. One looked pretty good, most were about average, and one guy… Sebastian frowned.

“Problem, Tiger?” Jim’s Irish accent had gotten stronger.

“Someone should take the pistol away from that guy, he’s a menace.”

Jim looked past him and watched, then said over his shoulder, “He’s right, Terry, either get him lessons or get him away from the shooting.” Jim petted his arm. “Give Sebastian here his spot.”

Sebastian turned wide eyed, “I can–”

“Two hours, any of the guns on premise.” Jim looked serious at him and tapped him on the wrist where his sweatband was–where his cuff had been. “Mind your manners, Tiger, these lads work for me.”

Terry took him in, got him hearing protectors–good ones– and showed him the available pistols.  Everyone here was either Irish, or from a rough place in England, and all it took was a few sentences for most of them to hate Sebastian’s toff English guts, but he’d dealt with worse in the gang.  Most of them shut up when they saw him shoot, anyway.

“I see why Mister Moriarty hired you.” One of the fellows said while Sebastian was changing out for a different pistol.

It took a moment for Sebastian to realize he must be talking about Jim. He nodded slowly, “I’m out of practice. Mostly been working with my hands or a knife lately.”

The fellow nodded, “Don’t cross him.  He’s good to his people, and he pays well, but never cross him–he’s the inventive sort.”

Sebastian grinned and shook his head, “You’ve no idea, Mate.”

After a couple hours, he guessed, he got tapped on the shoulder and told to clean up and turn in his gear.  He did.  He got sent back upstairs and directed to a car outside. Jim was waiting.  He got in.

“Have a good time, Tiger?”

“Yes, Sir,” Sebastian swallowed, “Hadn’t realized how much I missed it.”

“We’ll get you to someplace to practice with a rifle soon, but there’s nowhere near London for that. Oh, once we get you back, strip those clothes off for the cleaners.”

“Yes, sir.” They did stink of the range.  Sebastian thought it smelled wonderful but he supposed most people didn’t.

“By the way, I picked you out a new toy while you were busy.”

“Someone else to break, Sir?”

“Sort of Tiger, she’s a–” Sebastian’s head popped up at the pronoun. Jim grinned. “You need to learn how to use a lighter touch, Tiger, she’s a class project. You’ll still have some people to break, we’ve barely started your classes on that, but if you’re serious about making it up to me, you need to learn how to be nice, too.” He paused, “for some value of nice.”

 


	16. Purr

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> discussions of (nearly suicidal) gay bashing, homophobic language, etc

Sebastian got more clothes, mostly lightweight gym gear. Jim promised him that the outdoor clothes were coming back from the cleaners. Jim didn’t bother to re-conceal the exit although he did tell Sebastian to do so if he ever needed to move a prisoner. 

A new–male– prisoner appeared in Benny’s old cell the day after Sebastian’s trip to get rid of Benny. He was chained to the winch in the usual fashion, leg cuffed and gagged.  He had tattoos that read “Britain First” and “White power”, a couple of lightning bolts, and a few that Sebastian assumed meant the same sort of thing, but he wasn’t familiar with.

“Now Sebastian… The goal here is MINIMAL damage, understand?” Jim was standing there in his professor posture with that little plastic whip thing.

Sebastian nodded. “What am I allowed to do?”

“Anything.”

“Anything?”

“Yes, you can do anything you want.” Jim nodded, “But the goal is to do nothing that won’t heal, and preferably leave as few marks as possible.  Pretend that you need to break this guy–his name is Darryl, incidentally– but you might need him to, oh, say, go back to his boss, or be part of a hostage exchange or something.”

Sebastian blinked a lot. “That sounds tough.”

“It IS tough, Tiger. That’s the challenge.” Jim smiled, “To start with just aim for no long term damage, marks able to be covered by a t shirt and jeans, and able to walk and talk.”

“You don’t… actually want to keep this guy, do you?” Sebastian asked dubiously staring at the guy.  He was trying to curse from behind the gag but his eyes were showing terror.

“Him? Oh not in the slightest, Tiger. I mean seriously?  If nothing else the fact that he paid to have those tattoos done indicates a lack of intellect,” Jim looked over at him and suddenly flicked his wrist, and the quirt, at him: he screamed, “also a lack of taste, those are terrible tattoos.”

“May I ask how you picked him up, Sir? and I thought you said you had a girl…”

“She isn’t here yet.  As to this terrible excuse for humanity? He and his buddies were gay bashing outside of a club.”

Sebastian tried to look as though that was a foreign idea.

Jim tapped him on the chest with the quirt, “Don’t even try it, Tiger. You are hardly innocent just because you were more of an equal opportunity sadist.  You no longer hurt people because they’re gay, or pretty, or whatever: you hurt people because I say you can.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Oddly enough this fellow falls into the exceptions.”

“Sir?”

“When you find idiots who need five to one odds to attack people who never bothered them, just because they’re gay– or some other person minding their own business–you can stretch your claws a bit.” Jim walked around the fellow and slowly dragged the tip of the quirt over his back and around to his stomach. “Providing you have time, and don’t get caught, of course.  Until then you strictly hurt people because I say so.”

“Yes, Sir…. Uh… he was one of five?”

“Mmm-hmmm,” Jim flicked the quirt across the guy’s nipple.  He shrieked again and started gagging; it was bleeding just a bit. “Now since we don’t actually need him, once you’re done with lessons on minimal damage we can get a bit rougher.  However until then?  Practice.”

Jim walked out.  Sebastian sagged a bit and looked at the guy. “You are one unlucky bastard.”  He pulled the gag, the guy started babbling.  He was alternately begging and trying to appeal to Sebastian apparently as a fellow Brit.

Sebastian wasn’t really listening– he was considering how best to go about this– when something the guy said caught his ear.

“What was that?”

“Huh?” the guy stared at him and started babbling about “who knew the little faggot was anyone important! Look we didn’t even get to anything, honestly, if he’s your–”

Sebastian told him to shut up, and then asked, “You… and your friends… attacked JIM?!” he waved at the door.

“Well… him and that other fag, we were–”

“Shut it.” Sebastian stared at him. “And you think… somehow… that I’M in charge?”

The guy stared at him, and kind of weakly asked, “Aren’t you?”

“Oh shit no he wouldn’t keep you; you’re all kinds of stupid.” Sebastian shook his head, “Sorry there, Not over long ago I was hanging in a set of chains just like that.” The guy started whining something or another, Sebastian didn’t care much.

 _Jim wants me to practice breaking people with a bit more finesse.  This guy attacked Jim–_ and he shoved the idea of Jim at a gay club out of his head as far as he could because that was just too damned hot _–and this was a chance to make up to Jim for what he did…_

“Like I said you are one hell of an unlucky bastard.” Sebastian hit the guy right in the “Britain First” tattoo; it seemed only polite to start there…

*

He’d been showering, washing off the sweat and the smell of idiot, and when he got out of the shower Jim was sitting there with a steak dinner.  Sebastian came over and knelt down.

Jim petted him and dug his fingers into Sebastian’s scalp in exactly the right way…

“Mmmmm…” Sebastian inhaled the smell of steak, and relaxed into Jim’s hand.

“I told you I’d get you purring, Tiger.” Jim said happily.

Sebastian supposed that rumble he’d made as his muscles relaxed and someone gave him a scalp massage might–just might– be considered purring.

Jim started feeding him steak– this one seasoned differently, but still delicious– and some kind of rice dish that was just a touch spicy and delicious, and then he got a sip of beer actual beer

“It’s a small pub brew; I’m rather fond of it.” Jim commented. “It looks like you did a good job on Darryl today.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Sebastian quietly ate his food and enjoyed the beer as he got it.

“Go ahead and ask, Tiger, I know you want to.”

“You were at a gay bar?”

“I was at a gay friendly club.  It’s mostly gay men, some friends, good music, cute guys…”

“Are… are you?”

Jim laughed, “I find labels so limiting.  If you like, I prefer sex with men, so you COULD call me gay, but I don’t mind sex with women, so I suppose you could call me Bi. I have rather specific tastes, though.”

“Oh?”

“I like sadism, Tiger, I just happen to like the manipulation and control a bit more than the pain–although I do enjoy inflicting pain. I like watching people come apart in my hands, and it doesn’t matter much about the gender. I like smart people but I like to be smarter.” Jim was looking down at him thoughtfully, “I like being in control, but it’s no challenge to control most people, I prefer a challenge.”

Sebastian ducked his head, “Me.”

“Oh I adore taking people apart who tried to hurt me, Tiger.” Jim moved his fingers down and started hitting all the knots in Sebastian’s shoulders, he moaned and leaned into Jim’s knee. “I just don’t want to keep most of them.  You’re special.”

Sebastian rolled his head to give Jim access to his other shoulder and sighed contentedly.

“Do you think you got your claws enough of a workout to play nicely for a bit?”

Sebastian sat up quickly, “Yes, Sir.”

“Off to the bed with you. Get out the hand cuffs and some chain, I want you to have some play, but we’re doing something new.” Jim smirked, “You’ll like it.”

Sebastian fought very hard to quash the nagging voice that said _chaining yourself to a bed around Jim was a VERY BAD IDEA_. He got everything out and fastened both chains to the bed posts.

He thought about blow jobs… _no, he said something new_ … he thought about how he’d found out you could actually like being flogged… _yes, I’m out of my MIND_ … Electricity turned out to be incredible… he locked one wrist to the chain and held out his arm to the other post and waited.

“You’re getting all tense again, Tiger.”

“I… uh… worry.” Sebastian said eyeing the way Jim was walking over. He was getting that sort of amused predatory look again.  That was usually fun, if scary.

“Hmm…” Jim locked his other wrist in and put the keys down on the bedside table. He got out the lube. “I told you you’d like it.”

Jim stripped.  Jim rarely took off all of his clothes until Sebastian was pretty out of it, so this was new.  He put the Taser in the bedside drawer, and took a knife off of his ankle…

“I didn’t know you carried a knife…”

“I always carry at least one, Tiger, usually a pistol too.”

Jim wasn’t badly muscled for a smaller guy: Sebastian had known that from the way he carried himself, but it looked like he’d gotten more muscle definition since Sebastian first saw him in shirt sleeves…

“Have…” Jim raised an eyebrow at him and Sebastian hesitantly continued, “Have you been working out?”

“I’ve been working on getting back into shape, yes. It’s amazing how fast you lose muscle tone. Well how fast I lose it.”

He started using his mouth and hands and Sebastian took the simpler course of lying back and enjoying it. Jim stopped and started coating him with lubrication. He did something Sebastian couldn’t see…

Sebastian closed his eyes, trying to just trust that whatever it was, no matter how scary it might be, it was going to be good… he felt Jim move up and sprawl on his chest, he was full length front to front naked... Sebastian opened his eyes cautiously.

Jim was almost nose to nose with him.  It was unnerving.

Jim leaned down and kissed him.  It was… it was possessive.  For all that it was slow and gentle, Sebastian felt that undercurrent of terror in his spine.  He tried to kiss back, since that seemed to be what Jim wanted.  It was a bit embarrassing to realize how unskilled he was at kissing; he didn’t usually kiss his fucks much.

Jim moved down and kissed Sebastian’s jaw, then he bit it: somehow it felt good, but Jim’s teeth were very sharp.  Jim moved down his neck, and paused over his Jugular… Sebastian felt his heart speed up; he wouldn’t put it past Jim to rip someone’s throat out with his teeth.

Sebastian became aware of Jim reaching between them and moving his dick, he spoke very quietly into Sebastian’s neck– Sebastian felt the vibration in his veins and the terror was doing some really weird things to his interest level, mostly increasing it.

“I don’t think I trust your claws enough to try this without handcuffs, Tiger, especially since you’re a rather BIG Tiger…”

Jim got up on his knees and moved Sebastian’s dick until he was right over and it and started sliding down.  Sebastian almost held his breath and then he moaned as Jim lowered himself slowly.

“Oh God…”

“Yours Sebastian, and don’t you forget it.” Jim growled at him over a sharp smile. “You didn’t want my cooperation last time...”

“I was really stupid…”

“Yes, you were.” Jim flexed his muscles and it felt obscenely wonderful. “But I thought you had potential.”

Sebastian just moaned some more as Jim started moving. Girls had ridden him like this just once or twice, and it was okay, but you couldn’t move, or be rough or… _In this position, with his hands bound, he couldn’t hurt Jim._

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“Talk later, Tiger, for right now?” Jim rocked forward and did something that tightened him all along Sebastian’s length, “Just beg, that’s fine.”

Sebastian started begging, very sincerely, as Jim took his time fucking himself on him.

“Imagine this after I’ve flogged you…” Jim murmured, “or with the violet wand…” his hands slid over Sebastian’s chest and he lifted himself up and let himself back down. “I do love to take my time…”

Sebastian whimpered, Jim leaned down and bit him again.  Sebastian bucked:  Jim giggled.

“There’s an old saying about riding a Tiger… I rather like it, myself.  What do you say, Tiger?” Jim started moving faster and dragged his nails down Sebastian’s chest.

Sebastian tried to do something; all he could do was thrust up a bit, and plead.

“Incentive to do your abdominal workouts, isn’t it?” Jim rolled his hips and it was excruciatingly painful and incredibly wonderful and Sebastian came, panting.

Jim leaned down and kissed him again, lazily… “Do you belong to me, Tiger?” he asked, licking along Sebastian’s jaw and murmuring into his ear.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Sir.

“Let’s hear you purr again.”

He did his best.


	17. New Pets and Second Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we introduce a new (female) project, and Sebastian gets a second chance  
> (Nothing specifically TW happens IN this chapter, but yes we are coming up on it)

Jim supervised him with the idiot–Darryl– including showing him how to fuck a guy when you DIDN’T want to hurt him.  Sebastian didn’t think Jim cared about the idiot, but he figured this just might be practice for making it up to Jim so he studied. Apparently there was a lot more lubrication and stretching involved than Sebastian had ever realized.

Several days– as counted in how many times Darryl passed out, and some amazing blowjobs from Jim, and one extended period with the violet wand that left Sebastian babbling and incoherent–later, Jim came bouncing in happily and said, “Your new pet is here.”

“Does that mean I can get rid of Darryl?” was the first question out of Sebastian’s mouth, then…”Wait, you said ‘pet’ not ‘toy’?”

Jim laughed and kissed him. “Yes, very good, Tiger.  Yes, I said pet, not toy, and yes you can get rid of Darryl.”

“Is… is this the girl?” Sebastian almost felt a tail swish and if he’d had them his ears would have been perking up.

“Yes, Tiger.” Jim bounced along out of the room, “Come along, Sebie!”

Sebastian padded along after him to one of the previously unlabeled rooms– it had a label on it now, “Pet”. Jim opened the door.

Whatever Sebastian might have been hoping for, this wasn’t it.  She was lying in an ungainly heap on the floor wearing rather unattractive clothing, and stinking of booze.

“Not… what i was expecting, Sir.”

Jim pulled her head up by her hair, her eyes were completely unfocused and she closed them again soon.  Sebastian assumed she could have been pretty, if she did something with her hair, and maybe some of those magic tricks the girls did with their make-up.

“THIS was Detective Elizabeth Donner.” Jim smiled happily as he carefully lowered her head back down.  Her hands were cuffed behind her back and she was on a walking chain that was loosely clipped to the floor– Sebastian didn’t think they were needed right now.

“SHE was a detective?” she looked like a drunk.

“Mmmm-hmmm! And causing no end of trouble for me.  She has smarts and that annoying determination.”

“Then how…?” Sebastian waved at the huddled boozy heap.

“Some of the smartest people are still complete idiots when it comes to relationships, Tiger.  Her ex-husband was really quite horrid, and since he was planning a divorce before she had a clue–although she should have– he also pretty well cleaned her out.” Jim smiled down and petted her head. She groaned.

“Between my own people in the Met, her messy divorce, and her drinking issues–lots of police have those, but hers have been bad– she’s been suspended pending investigation, so...”

“No one’s going to miss her.” Sebastian nodded.

“Presumed suicide probably, although I plan on throwing a lot of doubt onto her ex.” Jim nodded happily. “My people have been sympathetic ears at the bar.  Last time around she just got a nice drug popped into it.  She’ll be alright after a few hours’ sleep.  Anyway, Tiger, remember what I said about her having smarts?”

Sebastian suddenly got it, “You want to keep this one.”

“Yes, and I’m going to let you practice, under supervision.”

Sebastian thought about it for a while. “So, we don’t want to HURT her?”

“We only want to hurt her a little,” Jim corrected, “and lots of rewards for behaving.”

Sebastian couldn’t help but flinch just a little–too close to home.  Jim walked over and petted him, “She’ll be better off with us anyway.”

He liked the “us” from Jim. _I suppose I’m better off with him, too?_ “What can I do, then?”

“For the short term, clean her up, and keep her fed and hydrated when I’m not around, everything else I’ll show you…” Jim looked apologetic at him, “You have…”Jim reached down and stroked at Sebastian’s crotch through the shorts, “certain natural advantages, but your skills have mostly been aimed at hurting people.”

He couldn’t argue that, although right now his dick definitely wanted more attention. “So you want me to learn…?”

“How to make it good for a girl.  It’s related but not the same...  The observation skills I’ve been teaching you will come in handy, though.”

Jim gestured and walked out, Sebastian followed him.

“Shouldn’t she have been stripped?” Sebastian asked thoughtfully after they got back to his room.

“Very good, Tiger.” Jim beamed at him, it was wonderful, “but while that’s a good observation, let me explain why we aren’t doing that.  You see, YOU had a ton of hidden weapons, and were trained to use anything you could get as a weapon–you had to be stripped while you were unconscious.”

Sebastian nodded, that made sense. _Hell my belt buckle was a multi tool_.

“She only had a spare handcuff key and pocket items, so I don’t NEED to strip her.”

“So…” Sebastian thought about it. Jim ALWAYS had a reason. “What advantage do you get from not stripping her?”

Jim reached up and pulled him down into a kiss that made his dick sit up and beg, “GOOD boy, Tiger! See? I knew you were smart.”

Jim pulled him over to the bed. “Think you can play nice without chains? Or should I cuff you?”

Sebastian thought about it.  Oddly enough a chain helped him feel grounded… “Maybe… Maybe just a leg cuff?”

Jim smiled, “Good Tiger, go get set up.”

He stripped and got himself chained to the bed.  The voice saying what a bad idea this was, was a bit quieter, either from experience or maybe having his hands free.

“The advantage is the psychology of stripping her once she’s awake to appreciate it.” Jim explained. “If we did it now she just wakes up nude.  If I wait, well, that’s more impact, you see?”

Sebastian nodded, he actually did understand that. “I think I remember one of the guys saying something about that for interrogation.”

Jim moved the key out of his reach, and stripped. After a moment’s thought he moved the bedside table out of Sebastian’s reach.

“Now, Tiger… I really don’t think you comprehend foreplay, and preparation very much.  It’s a bit less critical for a girl, but it’s important either way.”

“Well, you have to get a bit hard to put on a condom,” Sebastian allowed. _I mean, he knew that_.

“Not what I mean Tiger.”  Jim sighed. “You remember me showing you how important it was to loosen Darryl up a bit? How important it is to use good lubrication?”

“Yeah… yes, Sir.” He remembered being smacked with the quirt for suggesting spit as sufficient lubricant REALLY well.

“Women create their own lubricant MOST of the time, but only if you… do the equivalent of getting them turned on enough to put on a condom.  Some women never do produce enough and you still need lubrication, and if you have someone who isn’t really enthused about being with you ANYWAY, you need lube.”

Sebastian blinked a lot. “So if you just jump into having sex, even a girl won’t be wet?” _That did explain some things…_

Jim looked pained and closed his eyes, “What do they teach…. Yes, Tiger that’s what I said.” He opened his eyes. “You happen to be a very large man… in every sense.” Sebastian preened a bit, “which can be a problem.”

“Huh?”

Jim moved over and started stroking Sebastian gently… somehow it wasn’t reassuring.

“It takes a man, and some women, a good bit more lubrication and a lot more stretching to take you without tearing something.” Jim said it very gently, and Sebastian was trying to figure out why he had an overwhelming urge to run.

He put his hands down flat on the bed. “I... I don’t know what I did that upset you, but…”

“You really have no idea how much you can hurt someone, do you?”

“Ummm… I know…” he suddenly had a really sick feeling he knew where this was going. “Some of the men I had in interrogation, I know they were bleeding.  I know they were hurt, and that’s why you should use lube…”

“You used a lubricated condom with me, Tiger…” Jim was leaning over him and Sebastian felt like he weighed a million pounds. “And I did my best to relax, and roll with it…” _yeah, he had…_ “and I still ended up in the hospital with internal injuries.”

“…what?” Sebastian whispered.

“The reason I didn’t catch up to you a lot faster, and the reason I was out of shape, Tiger, is that I was in the hospital.” Jim was lying across Sebastian’s chest, looking down at him and his eyes were like a sharks eyes…

“I… thought…” Sebastian could barely form words. “I thought hitting your head… I thought that was the worst…”

“I barely felt that, Sebastian, although you apparently cracked a bone in my face.” Jim was just looking down at him with no particular expression. “I somehow doubt you’re usually that aggressive, but in any case…”

“I didn’t know…”

“Obviously.”

“I’m sorry.”  Sebastian didn’t know what else to do or say. “I… wasn’t sorry then, but I’m really sorry now. If there’s any way to make it up to you, I will.”

“Well… I’m going to give you chance to prove it, Tiger.  I’m going to take a hell of a chance on you and let you be on top…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Detective Elizabeth Donner ... sigh. One of the few people in this story who really didn't do anything "wrong" other than interfere with Jim's business too much, have an abusive (ex)husband, and have a drinking problem.  
> what happens to her is unfair, and horrible as it is? in the long long long run, Jim may be right... she may be better off.. maybe. however her chapters can be tough. (although part of one is funny)


	18. on the top, on the bottom, and in between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW for flashbacks in part 1 of this chapter, and after the *~ begins Sebastian dealing with Detective Elizabeth Donner  
> so referenced/remembered non-con, and active (but not graphic) non-con)

“On top” was a relative term.

Sebastian was on top in the sense that he was going to be doing the penetrating, and Jim was–in the purely physical sense– underneath him, but that’s where it ended.

Sebastian was doing his best to make it very clear that he was sorry, and he wanted to make amends.  He spent a lot of time following Jim’s directions in licking and kissing–it didn’t do much for him, but if it made Jim happy…

*

Sebastian had walked up behind Jim and taken him down with a solid shot to the head.  He’d hauled him off to a better spot behind a dumpster, out of sight.  He’d come to and struggled, God that felt good, got your blood going when they did that… Sebastian held him down and punched him again, he went still but he wasn’t out.

He wasn’t trying to scream, and he’d stopped struggling far too easily…

*

Sebastian shivered as he put his hand on Jim’s back.  He’d held him down like that– Sebastian jerked his hand away.

“You can rest your hands on the bed, Sebastian, or move my hips, but I think you should be using your hands to make sure I’m actually ready.”

*

Sebastian had shaken him roughly.  He wasn’t struggling and Sebastian wanted him to struggle, wanted him to be afraid. He’d been the smart, calm voice at the meeting and Sebastian wanted to put him down…

“You’re a lot stronger than I am: I don’t want to be hurt. No, I don’t like it rough at all.” His voice was soft, and quiet, and surprisingly calm.

*

Jim liked to be in control, he liked to take his time… Sebastian worriedly used more lube and felt insanely clumsy trying to do things with his hands.  He’d never felt clumsy before with sex, but now he did.  Jim liked hands stroking down his side, and kissing across his shoulders….

*

Sebastian had zip tied Jim’s hands behind his back–tightly enough to cut off circulation, Sebastian was sure– and then he’d ripped his pants off, while he kept him pressed down.  He’d have bruising from the pants waistband tearing against his waist, and probably trouble breathing the way Sebastian was holding him down. 

*

Sebastian kept his weight off of Jim. He was wondering if he needed more lube when Jim just commented drily, “No, you don’t need more lube, you need to use your hands to make sure I’m ready for you, OR ask me to do it…”

“Uh, can you? I… I don’t want to hurt you.”

*

Sebastian had slammed into him hard.  Jim had actually managed to relax some, but Sebastian was big and he hadn’t prepared, or used any lube but what was on the condom. Jim made a pained gasp, and Sebastian felt something give…

*

Sebastian couldn’t do it.  He couldn’t stay hard, and every time he tried to do anything to Jim in this position he kept seeing the dark alley….

“I can’t.” Sebastian said very quietly, pulling away, “I don’t–”

Jim rolled over and looked up at him. He looked as calm and unconcerned as he had when Sebastian had wrapped the chain around his throat.

*

Sebastian had pulled out and slammed into him again. This time Jim choked on a scream.   He was fairly certain Jim was unconscious when he finished. He slammed Jim’s face into the ground and got up. He left him lying in the alley…

When he talked to his boss later he honestly figured Jim was dead already.

*

Sebastian was huddled at the foot of the bed; he kept seeing the alley, Jim… He’d never thought about the people he’d hurt… he didn’t care about most of them, but…

“Take this.” Jim said pushing a pill into his mouth, and holding a water bottle to his lips.  He did, sort of reflexively.

“If it’s the stuff you gave me before,” he finally managed to say, “Its gonna mess me up.”

“No.  It’s a mild sedative for panic attacks.” Jim answered him, calm and unruffled as he could be. “Lie down, Tiger.”

He did.  Jim lay down next to him and put his arms around him: it felt safe.

“I didn’t care.” Sebastian admitted. “I hurt you–I knew I hurt you– and I didn’t care. I was angry you weren’t scared.”

“I was scared actually.” Sebastian felt Jim shrug against him, “But in my experience if you show any fear you just encourage them.”

Sebastian carefully rolled over to face him. “You were scared?!”

“As much as I get scared.” Jim looked off sort of distantly, “Mostly I was thinking it was a damn shitty way to die, that I probably wasn’t even going to be found for a while and that there were still people I needed to kill….”

Sebastian laughed and tried to cut it off, “Sorry, just… it’s a very ‘you’ sort of thing to think… you can’t die yet, you have people to kill.”

Jim smirked, and petted him. “And you say you don’t know me, Tiger?”

“You… still have people you need killed? I … guess that’s why you want a sniper?”

“One of the reasons.” Jim scratched down Sebastian’s chest. “I like dangerous things.”

Jim got up on top of him again, like he had before. “Shame to waste all that prep work, Tiger.”

He felt a lot more comfortable with Jim on top of him.

“Your hands are free, this time, let’s show you how to use them, alright?”

Sebastian did his best.

 

*~

The next morning he pulled on a shirt and pants to cover the scratches and welts.  Jim had given him instructions about the girl… well… the woman? Detective?  And he went in.

“Oh Jesus, you stink.”

“Fuck you, you’d stink too if someone left you chained to the floor.” She snapped back fast, glaring at him. 

“Well,” he grinned down at her, “you look a bit better this morning, anyway, and way more coherent.”

She looked puzzled and looked him up and down. “No one assaulted me; they wouldn’t put my clothes back on… You don’t have any reason to kidnap me... who do you work for?”

“Shit,” Sebastian blinked a lot, “Jim was right, you are smart!”

“Who’s Jim?” almost instantly.

“Your new owner.” Sebastian answered.

She snorted. “Like hell.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said, too.”

“I know people who can help you get out of this, if you want to… witness–”

Sebastian just laughed. “I’m sure.  You’re a known drunk; with a whole lot of crazy stories about– what was it? ‘Criminal networks’ ?– and a really shitty divorce, who is already under investigation.” Sebastian got out the knife, “That and I’m PRETTY sure Jim planted some evidence on you that they’ll find when they try to look into your disappearance.”

She looked scared but mostly glared at him, “Lots of fancy talk and set up to cut me up.”

“Actually, much as I might like to, Jim left orders.  This is just to get those lousy beer and puke covered clothes off you.”

“Scissors would do a better job.”

“I like knives.”

Sebastian had to fight her good bit to get her clothes off.  She was fast, vicious, and even with her legs chained down and her arms behind her back she put up a good fight. Eventually she was down to her socks and Sebastian kind of figured it wasn’t worth the grief to get those.

He was breathing hard and grinning when he put the knife away. “Damn… okay, you may not be pretty but you are sexy as fuck.”

She was looking pretty rattled, “I’m sexy as fuck, but I’m not pretty?  What are you some kind of crazy?”

“Yeah, actually.” Sebastian was pretty worked up by then.  He forced himself to go check the cabinet in the corner of the room–condoms, lube, bandages– he got some out. 

“Do me a favor, yeah? Keep that up for a while?”

“The FUCK are you–” she cut off when she saw him stripping down and getting the condom on. “I will fucking kill you!”

“Oh you just try…” Sebastian hauled her half over the bed.  She made a good job of digging her nails into him when he got close enough, and even with her legs  pretty well pinned down she managed to kick him.

“Normally I’d just go with this, but Jim insists…” he wasn’t up to doing much more than slathering the lube on while she cursed him out.

It had been a while, and he was reminded that women weren’t as tight as a guy’s ass.  He normally liked a bit more ass on a girl too–and tits– but damned if her trying to throw him off like a wild horse didn’t make up for it all.

She didn’t scream like she was hurt, or frightened; she screamed AT him.  The walls were ringing and he was pretty well deaf by the time he was done. She never let up trying to get him off of her. He didn’t even last that long with how good it was.

He reluctantly pulled out and as soon as he turned she whipped around and bit him in the arm.

It was as if some kind of switch got thrown– he felt warm, and God he wanted nothing more than to be in her again. He peeled her teeth off of him, pulling her back by her hair.

“Hey there, careful… not too long ago I would have smacked you across the room for that…”

“I will rip your goddamn throat out with my teeth if I have to!”

“Nah, you barely broke the skin, babe.” _Jim’s teeth are sharper_.

“You still want to treat that, Tiger, Human bites are nasty.” Jim said calmly from the chair in the corner of the room.

Sebastian started to go to his knees and hesitated, because if he let go of her…

Jim just waved at him in an “as you were” fashion. Sebastian pulled her around so he was kneeling next to the bed and she was almost in his lap. He kept a good grip on her hair so she couldn’t bite him again.

“So, Liz-can I call you Liz?” Jim just kept talking over her, “I’m Jim Moriarty. You’ve been trying to track me down for a while.”

Jim smiled and bit down into an apple and Sebastian almost moaned.  His dick tried to come back to attention and the struggling girl on his lap was certainly helping that.

“I see you’ve met Sebastian…”

 


	19. Math can be used in the worst ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While not graphic, this chapter is mostly non-con and should be skipped if it is too much of a trigger

“You and your pet rapist can go fuck each other!”

“We do.” Jim said sounding amused.

That shut her up. Sebastian found his hand wandering and she started struggling again… _Oh God this was heavenly._

“Well, I see you two are becoming friends… Tiger?”

“Yes, Sir?”

“Gags prevent biting as well as muffling the sound– assuming you care– and the spreader bar might take care of the kicking–you’re getting a bruise.” He got up and stretched, “Come back to your room when you’re finished–”

“Wait!” She sounded frantic.

Jim just cocked his head at her, “Yes?”

“Look, you must want something…” Sebastian was enjoying the fact that feeling her up meant she moved back into him.

“Hmm? Oh, I mostly wanted you to stop investigating my criminal operations, but you gave me such a beautiful opportunity to pick you up I couldn’t resist.  You’re smart, and once we get you sobered up you might be useful.”

“If you think I’m going to cooperate after THIS–”

Jim grinned that predatory grin he had.

“Tiger… feel like a lesson? Or do you need to burn some more energy off first?”

“Would… which would you prefer, Sir?”

She was looking back and forth as much as she could turn her head, and getting tenser.  It was really distracting.

“Good boy, Tiger.” Jim walked over, avoiding being in her reach, and rubbed his cheek. “Get her in the ankle bar and put her on the winch – hands front, so be careful– and gag her, the echoes in here are awful.”

She started screeching about it so the first thing Sebastian did was gag her. That was a chore, and when he was done he wanted to throw her over the bed and fuck her even more. The ankle bars were easier, but getting her hands in front…

It didn’t help his dignity that Jim was sitting on the chair laughing.

“Here, Tiger;  let me show you how.”

She’d gotten the gag out of her mouth somehow, and her hands were loose, and even with her ankles on a spreader bar AND chained to the floor she’d managed quite a bit of damage.  Sebastian eyed her warily…

“Sir?  I wouldn’t get too close.”

Jim went over to the supply box and got out a Taser. She tried to duck but in short order she was on the ground.

“Now put her hands back BEHIND her like they were, Tiger.”

“Behind her, but you said…?”

“I’m showing you how to do it, hurry up.”

The answer was pretty clearly “have a Taser” but Sebastian did what Jim wanted. “Okay sir, now what?”

“Wait for her to come back up.”

“Isn’t that kind of counterproductive?”

She snarled from the ground, “Why don’t you two faggots go fuck yourselves and leave me alone!”

“Oh, I plan on fucking Sebastian as soon as we’re done with the lesson,” Jim smiled. “Now, Tiger… when someone can’t be reasoned with, and you don’t want to hurt them–”  She shrieked at that. “The first thing you do is get the extra handcuffs out and hook one wrist, and only one, to the winch…”

Jim did just that, and pulled her wrists up behind her until she gasped.

“Now you can leave her hanging here like this for a while, to take the fight out of her a bit, or…” he unlocked the wrist that wasn’t attached to the winch, and stepped back fast. She swung on him and tried to scrabble at the winch line.

“That won’t help, babe, it held me.”

“Now since you’re tall…” Jim activated the winch again until her hand was JUST over her head, nowhere near full extension. “So NOW go wrangle her one free wrist into the cuff. She can’t kick you if you clipped the leg cuffs down tight enough, and if you hadn’t let her get the gag out she couldn’t have bit you either.”

“Brilliant!” Sebastian stared at the set up. “Wow… that’s… elegant.”

She was mostly breathing hard and glaring at him, apparently she saw it too.

“It’s the human body version of the question of moving rings from pole to pole, or the sheep and wolves issue.” Jim smiled.

Sebastian came forward cautiously and got her other wrist secured.  She’d been paying enough attention that she didn’t fight much.

“She really is quick!”

“Smart is worth keeping, Tiger.”

“If you’re such a big fan why do THIS?” she snapped, but she sounded more spooked.

“Well, first of all, Sebastian here never learned how to NOT break most of his bed partners,” Her eyes got a bit wider, “Secondly; He needs to learn how to do a better job of hurting people without doing overt damage.”

“You… needed a practice dummy for rape?!”

“Rape, interrogation, and torture, yes.” Jim said cheerfully. “He’s got a lot of natural talent, and the military encouraged it, but they didn’t really care if the marks showed…”

“Military…?”

“Sniper… I also helped soften some of the captives up for interrogation.” Sebastian shrugged.

She stared at the two of them, “Oh, my God, the prisoner abuse–”

Jim nodded, “Yes, that. The part that they don’t publish is that there was no trial because it was SANCTIONED abuse…”

“Sanctioned… but…” she was getting more frightened and less combative looking.

“Sebie here was just lying low until the London government could hire him.  So he ended up working for some of the gangs– you probably saw some of his work, actually,” Jim gestured and Sebastian came over and dropped to his knees.

“Turn around Tiger, you need to watch.” Jim said gently.  Sebastian turned and settled down.  Jim started rubbing his head and neck. “Sebastian tried to hurt me, and I… convinced him… to be reasonable.”

She was looking back and forth at the two of them and her eyes were getting panicked. She wasn’t yelling anymore.  She looked really good in chains; Sebastian was regretting his earlier comments about her looks.

“Now I’m teaching him to convince other people.  I’d really love to keep you, so hopefully Sebastian here is a good student.”

“I COULD use some of the stuff I learned in the military,” Sebastian offered, “some of it doesn’t leave marks.”

“Let’s start with the basics, Tiger,” Jim made a “stay” gesture and walked over to her. He walked to behind her and pulled her hair back. As soon as her mouth opened he put a gag in it and buckled it around her head. This one had more straps and it locked.

“Now, Tiger… you still worked up?”

“Yes, sir… I didn’t mind her biting…”

“Yes, well, the screaming was hard on my ears. If I’m going to be in the room with that much noise I’ll get the gun range hearing protectors.”

Jim spent the next several minutes driving Sebastian up the wall.  He insisted that Sebastian learn to watch her responses as Jim touched or pinched her in various places.  She was squirming and twisting in the restraints, and Sebastian got a “No, Tiger,” every time his hands went near his dick.

He finally gestured for Sebastian to come over. ‘Get two condoms, and make sure the lubrication is in range.”

Sebastian moved as fast as he could, but when he tried to touch her, Jim just “tsk’d” at him. 

“Patience Tiger, this is a class.” he instructed Sebastian on where to  lick, where to use his hands… it was kind of fun to make her respond, but he was beyond hard and it was getting really painful.

Eventually Sebastian got to fuck her again.

He was being disappointed that she was mostly hanging there, having worn herself out before, when Jim started using the violet wand… on him.

“You can always use a few tricks to make up the difference, Tiger.” Jim smirked as he varied the wand between “pleasant crackle” and “lightning whip”. 

Sebastian didn’t last very long this time, either, especially after waiting so long.

Jim petted Liz’s hair back, “He’ll get better.” He said sounding very reassuring. Sebastian didn’t think she was reassured– mind you he didn’t think she heard him either.

Jim got a bottle of electrolytes and took the gag out.  He had Sebastian hold her head while he gave her sips. You could tell she wanted to spit at him, but she really wasn’t getting a chance.

“Drink it or I get out the IV line,” Jim said firmly.  She drank it.

Sebastian was honestly beginning to like her. “You’re a lot smarter than I was. He had to keep me sleep deprived and dehydrated for a while.”

She stared at him in woozy disbelief.

Jim finished giving her the bottle and said, “She’s going to be having some issues with alcohol withdrawal by now, so I think leaving her to contemplate things is a good idea. Come on, Tiger, I can flog you again if you like…” Jim paused in the doorway, as if he wanted her to hear him, “Or… we haven’t played with knives yet, have we?”

“No…” That sounded bad, but… a lot of stuff that had sounded bad turned out to be incredible… “Is it fun?” he tried not to sound too hesitant.

“It is if I do it.”

 

 


	20. A peaceful interlude, with knives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just... assume the trigger warnings, okay?

“I want you restrained for this one, Tiger.  If you move unexpectedly when I’m playing with an edge you could get hurt.”

 _That made sense._   Jim locked him four ways to the bed, and not with the loose chains–although he did use the padded cuffs.

“Comfy?”

“Well, uh, I really don’t know… I guess?”

Jim just patted him on the head and walked away.

He came back with a bag and started disinfecting a knife. “If you play with edges everything needs to be clean, Tiger.” When he was done with that he actually wiped Sebastian down with what felt like alcohol.

“While we’re waiting for all that to dry…” Jim was getting stripped down completely. “I think we’ll drill with a safeword.”

“What?”

“Safewords… you have no idea, do you?”

“No?”

“A safeword is a word you use that means stop.”

“How about ‘stop’, I mean isn’t that–”

“When you get used to playing in the clubs where they do this for FUN, Tiger, you find out that people yell ‘stop’ and ‘no’ and so on because they’re enjoying the play.  People PLAY at rape fantasies, and its only fun if there is actually a way for them to say ‘okay, I know I yelled a lot before but this time I mean it.’.”

“That’s fucked up.”

Jim giggled, “Says the man who enjoys being flogged and electrified and is about to learn just how fun a knife can get.”

“Errr…” _okay, this was fucked up too._

“Seriously, think of it this way… if you were playing with someone, and they were doing a really great job of  working you up… and somewhere in there you moaned ‘oh, God, stop!’ and they actually STOPPPED…. You might be a touch annoyed.”

He had to concede that, “yeah, I guess Sir. Wouldn’t the tone–”

“the tone might be a clue, but people can sound pretty out of it, and besides, you’re asking someone who might be pretty worked up themselves to  hear a difference between ‘oh god stop’ – I don’t mean that; if you stop I will hurt you– and ‘oh god stop’– that’s hurting me too much.  I think it’s a lot easier when you have a code.” Jim picked up the knife, “besides, after I flog you you’re usually pretty out of it, and you do mutter.”

Sebastian was watching the knife cautiously. It looked pretty sharp. “That looks sharp.”

“It better be, dull knives are dangerous.”

 _Well, yes, that’s true, but…_ “I’m beginning to feel like those steak dinners, Sir.”

Jim licked his lips and smirked, “Should I get a fork?” it was terrifying, so of course his traitorous dick started to sit up and take notice.

“Green means good, yellow means I need a break, red means full stop.” Jim ran the flat of the blade down Sebastian’s chest.

“And if I said red? Would you stop?”

He shrugged, “I might.  Now if you’re ever in a voluntary scene, or a club, and someone uses the club safeword, or says red, and the top DOESN’T stop, that bottom needs help, pronto.”

“I’d heard people do this for fun, I mean really, but knives?”  He didn’t get a chance to say much more because Jim ran the tip of the knife across one of his scars. It felt weird, and then there was that odd warm flush in his spine, and a feeling like a cool breeze…he glanced down, there was a thin line of red.

Jim brushed the knife blade down his stomach, it left a white line but no blood, then he turned it and as he moved it sideways there were tiny dots of blood forming.

Sebastian felt dizzy.  _There’s no way that’s from the injury or the blood, I got worse than that hanging a shelf!_

Jim trailed the blade in an odd sort of swirling pattern across his ribs, he felt that odd cool sensation again but his body temperature started feeling too hot.  Jim leaned down and kissed a bruise into his chest– Sebastian was pretty sure he moaned.

The knife whispered across his skin, and he felt hotter, and hotter.  Jim’s mouth and the cool feeling of blood on his skin was all that made it even bearable.

Jim went down on him and the sensation was almost too much.  The knife slid across his thigh, a line of cool followed it.

He was begging, he was pretty sure he said stop quite a lot. He might have meant it, he might not, he couldn’t tell.

Jim was moving slowly, everything was moving slowly, it was like when he’d been shot that one time, where everything had sped up at first and then everything just slowed down…

A pin prick of pain on his chest, Jim kissed it and made it better.  Jim’s face over him smeared with blood–he looked like a demon.  Jim leaned down and kissed him and Sebastian tasted his own blood in Jim’s mouth–he moaned again and all he could taste was copper and all he could smell was blood and Jim.

Jim cut him, and kissed him, and eventually he came and it didn’t stop… and the world collapsed to burning alive, and the knife was letting the cool in…

*

He had a vague recollection of Jim bandaging him, so he wasn’t that surprised when he woke up covered in gauze.  Truthfully he was more shocked that he woke up.

There were bandages around his upper arms, and one forearm, lots of gauze around his chest, gauze around one thigh… and a smattering of Band-Aids here and there. He was covered in what looked like trivial scratches.

There was, of course, a note:

Sebastian,

I patched you up, keep everything clean though.  I took care of Liz for the night, but you HAVE to keep her hydrated and cleaned up.  Remember not to get your bandages wet; I suggest the painting jumpsuit it’s in Darryl’s old room.

Jim

P.S. I got rid of Darryl.

He staggered over to the ‘fridge and found it fully restocked with fruit, and cheese, and some kind of dip and vegetable tray…

He ate some and went over to check on Liz.  She looked miserable, although Jim had rearranged her onto the bed.  The winch still went to her wrists, but loosely, and her wrists and ankles were cuffed to the bed loosely.

“Hi?”

“Fuck off and–what the hell happened to you?!”

“Jim, and a knife…do you like dip?”

“… What?”

“Do you like dip? For some reason Jim left me vegetables and dip.  He never left that before so I was wondering if you liked it.”

“You raped me… you two spent  I don’t know how long torturing me… he hosed me down and chained me to a bed… he apparently  cut you enough that you look like ‘The Mummy’s’  stunt double… and now you want to know if I want dip… because he left it for you?!”

Sebastian thought about it. “It does sound kind of strange when you put it that way.”

“Kind of?!”  She sputtered at him.

Sebastian brought in the dip tray.

She stared at it. “That’s from Cairo’s.”

“It’s Hummus…” Sebastian said dubiously, “I doubt it’s actually from Egypt.”

“No, you Neanderthal! It’s from Cairo’s Market, near my old flat.”

“Oh. probably.” He shrugged and dipped a celery bit in it and held it out at her.  She stared at him for a while but finally took it. She could just get her hands to her mouth

“Jim must like you, really.   Got nothing but electrolytes and maybe meal shakes for … oh I dunno, a week?”

“If you’re a prisoner…. And he treats you like that… why don’t you run?”

“I thought about it for a while.” Sebastian shrugged and sat down on the bed next to her, he started feeding her more of the dip and veggies. “He’s made it pretty clear that if I fuck up again he’ll be really mad. I had a taste of him being ‘annoyed’: I don’t want to see really mad.  Besides which he’s…” Sebastian groped for words, “He’s insanely smart, and the sex is incredible.”

“Did you WANT to be flogged or cut up?”

“No… not at first.  The flogging started as a punishment, but… somehow it ended up great. Most of his stuff is like that.”

“Did you want to be cut? He said you hadn’t before?”

“No, and frankly it was scary as hell.” He looked off thoughtfully, when she snarled at him he realized he’d started petting her again, “Not that I’m in his league, but I’m learning…”

“Yeah, I got to play class dummy last night, get your paws off me!”

Sebastian shrugged, “You’re my toy.  As long as I don’t damage you, and I take care to keep you clean, fed, and hydrated, I can do whatever I want with you.”

“How about leaving me the fuck alone, or getting us BOTH out of here?

“How about I practice playing with the violet wand and fuck you?” Sebastian laughed.

She threw a bit of hummus covered vegetable at him, pretty accurately given how restricted her arm motion was.  He took the food away.

“You play darts?”

“What?”

“Do you play darts? Because that was really good wrist action.”

“Yeah, I play darts,” she snapped, “I could probably beat you.”

“Doubt it. I’m good.”

“Get me a set and I’ll prove it.”

“Oh you’re funny, Babe… maybe once Jim says so you’ll get your hands on a dart set.  He let me go to the gun range, it’s possible.”

“Why didn’t you SHOOT him?”

Sebastian didn’t answer; he just resecured her and had his fun.  He used a decent amount of lube, not just the condom, and he did try to watch her reactions, and since he wasn’t quite so worked up he lasted longer.

 _Why didn’t I shoot him?_   Sebastian was chewing that one over as he cleaned her up and got her something to drink.  She mostly spat at him.

“Jim did warn you about the IV, so I wouldn’t do that, but hey… your call.”

He went back to his room.

He carefully removed the bandages, cleaned and treated the cuts and re bandaged himself.  Most of them were just shallow cuts, often along scars he already had–even if they scarred you’d never see it.  two of them were different.  There was a decorative swirling, almost Arabic looking word cut into his upper arm, like where a tattoo would go.  In amongst the other curls it read “Tiger”.  Along his hip was a much shallower cut, just barely enough to draw blood, it said “Jim’s”.

He carefully put wound care cream on everything and re bandaged it.  He doubted most of it would leave a mark, but those last two?  He kind of hoped they would…


	21. because girls are such dainty delicate creatures...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Err... TW for monthly cramps and menstruation, and a big strong macho military guy being... not able to cope

The next few days went pretty well.  Jim took him out to the firing range again, he did a lot of practice on Liz, and he got a lot more workouts in.  The cuts healed up pretty well, most of them were just red streaks after a few days, and Jim was convinced they’d fade entirely in a few weeks. Sebastian asked about maybe getting “Tiger” or “Jim’s” made more permanent: Jim promised he’d consider it.

Liz had been getting quieter.  She tried a few things at first but really nothing the last two days, so Sebastian was a bit confused when he went in to get her set up for the day and she just lay curled up on the bed and groaned.

“Come on, up you go… don’t make me pull you with the winch again.”

She mumbled something that sounded like “–and die.” But it wasn’t really that emphatic.

Sebastian frowned.  This was likely to be a trick, but… he had vague memories of being depressed enough to not care.  He sat down on the bed next to her and started petting her back.  She didn’t even react. 

“Liz? Come on, I’ll get you a treat…”

She just groaned.  And tried to curl up tighter. Her eyes were squinched shut and she looked really unwell.

Sebastian went out and paced. What if she was actually sick? She hadn’t felt feverish, but… he came back in with some electrolyte and tried to get her to drink it.

“If you have,” she groaned, “A shred of decency left…” she just trailed off and whimpered.  She never whimpered, well okay maybe a few times when Jim demo-ed something but never otherwise, she screamed, or cursed, or didn’t say anything and even if she cried she did it pretty quietly…

But she was whimpering.

Sebastian had no idea what to do. He went back to the hallway.

Eventually he got a broom handle and poked at the “exit” door in the hope it was alarmed.

Jim showed up, looking very confused, about fifteen or twenty minutes later.

“Tiger? What on earth?”

“I think Liz is sick or something.  I didn’t know how else to get your attention.”

Jim’s expression cleared, “Oh! Good thinking, Tiger.” 

Sebastian took him in to her room: she didn’t look up.  Jim walked around and stared at her for a moment…

“Oh.” he reached down and unlocked her legs from the foot of the bed. 

She didn’t kick; she just curled up around her guts and moaned.

Jim sat down on the bed while Sebastian stood there uncertainly.

“Food poisoning?” Sebastian asked even if it seemed unlikely.

“No, Tiger,” Jim sighed, he stroked her hair back, “Is it always this bad?”

“No.” She was panting and whimpering, “You took me off my pills…”

“Will over the counter medication help?”

“Sometimes.” She said fairly weakly.

“Alcohol, I would guess, is your usual.”  She didn’t say anything.

“Tiger, I doubt she’s in condition to try much, but stay with her, I’m going to go to the shop.”

Sebastian came over and sat down, feeling utterly baffled.  Much to his shock she seemed to be more comfortable with being held.  Sebastian figured she had to be hurting pretty bad.

Jim eventually came back with some bags. The first thing he got out was a heating pad.

“Now Liz, I normally wouldn’t give a prisoner anything electric, so you be a good girl or I take it away, clear?”  She just nodded and moaned. He handed it to her and she clutched it to her gut.

Jim took out a couple of pills. “This is pain killer and muscle relaxant. You may be a bit out of it, but you won’t care.”

“What is it…” she mumbled.

“Robaxin and Ibuprofen,” he popped the pills into her mouth and held her head up to swallow.

“Uh, they give you that in the military… that’s pretty strong.”

“Probably.” Jim shrugged.  He got into another bag and got out what looked like a cup of chocolate pudding… it was a cup of chocolate pudding. While Sebastian was trying to figure it out he got out a spoon and opened the package.

“Open up.” He said, tapping her mouth with the spoon.

“wha?” she got a spoonful of pudding and made faces at it.

“Sebastian? I got some powdered protein, get me a scoop of it. Sebastian did, looking mystified. He put it in the pudding cup and stirred.

“I swear I’ve been feeding her!  At least the meal shakes, and she got the–” 

“Not your fault, Tiger. She’s just got cramps.” He got a spoonful out, “Come on, you don’t want those pills on an empty stomach and the chocolate will help.”

She swallowed the spoonful without protest.

“Cramps… ?”

“She’s got cramps. She’s going to start her period? You know… bleeding?”

“Uh… she’s... but she’s sick? I mean she’s pretty miserable!” _this couldn’t have anything to do with it being that time of month._

“She’s one of the unlucky ones that gets bad cramps.  Obviously we haven’t been giving her her birth control pills, so…” he shrugged.  He kept slowly feeding her spoonfuls of pudding.

“This is NORMAL?”

Jim just looked up at him with an odd expression, “Well, for some girls. Some girls just get a bit nauseous or something, some get cramps… oh... don’t they teach you rich kids ANYTHING?”

Very quietly from the cot, “It’s most guys…”

“I suppose.” Jim sighed. “Sebastian, there are a lot of girls that have ignored appendicitis because they ‘just thought it was their period’.  Yes it can be very painful. I got tampons, pads, underwear, chocolate, pain meds and the heating pad.  I’m going to suggest you put her legs on a slightly longer tether, and put her hands on a looser chain in front of her.”

“But–”

“Do YOU want to handle her tampons?”

Sebastian just stared at him wide eyed.  Liz tried to laugh and ended up moaning.

“There’s a portable toilet in room three, I suggest you unpack it.”  He turned around and pulled Liz’s head back until she had to look at him. “I’m being nice. I don’t HAVE to be nice. I suggest you don’t abuse the privilege.” She nodded shakily.

He gave the dosage instructions for the meds, and the bags of supplies to Sebastian and told him to deal with it.

“You did the right thing calling me, Tiger, but I have business.” He patted his arm and walked out.

Sebastian quietly put away a box of Tampons– _they came in mixed sizes? How do you know what size…?_ He got out one of each.

 _There were these… pads?_ All folded up and wrapped up like they were gifts.

There was a pack of underwear, at least he understood THOSE.  The puddings went in the fridge, so did the protein powder… after a moment’s thought he put the meds in there too.

He came back with the underwear the pad and the three tampons.  He re-secured her the way Jim suggested, and set up the toilet.

“Okay, if you throw anything at me, I swear to GOD I will demonstrate waterboarding up close and personal got it?”

She nodded weakly. “Whatever those pills were I think they’re working.” Her voice sounded a bit slurred.

“Ibuprofen is just an NSAID… anti-inflammatory, standard pain med, although it looks like you got a prescription dose. Robaxin is a muscle relaxant and… uh… when people take it in the military they tend to lie down a lot.”

“It’s helping a little.”

“Well I have no idea how any of this stuff works,” he said putting all these mysterious female supplies down.

“The pad goes in the underwear… you really don’t…?”

“My mom died when I was just a kid, my dad sure as hell never told me anything, and I went to boys’ schools, and then military schools.”

She just lay there, “Great, I have to explain this to… Why was HE being nice about it?”

“Damned if I know.”

Over the course of the next hour he learned that the sticky part of the pad goes to the underwear; that tampon sizes correspond with the amount of blood you have to soak up, and that  some women went through  this kind of pain every single month. He also found out that “the pill” was used for more than just birth control, that heating pads helped, and that military prescription strength drug combos just took the edge off her cramps. He also learned several new and creative curses, some of which he was pretty sure were only taught to girls.

Jim didn’t come back that day. Sebastian kept feeding her as much as he could and she could keep down, and trying to keep her hydrated.

The next day her period started.

Sebastian took one look at the used tampon and fled puking.  When he came back she was still laughing.

“Is that NORMAL?!”

“Yeah, I start heavy… I’ll go through a tampon and a pad pretty fast.”

“There were… uh… GLOBS…” Sebastian had to swallow hard.

“You sure you were military?”

“Is that NORMAL?!”

“Yeah, sissy, girls deal with this all the time.” Then she doubled over and groaned.

He got her her pills, a bottle of water and electrolytes, put her supplies in reach, and fled into the shower.

He reluctantly poked his nose in there a few times, each time the smell was worse, and…

“I think you need to take the trash out, ‘Tiger’.” Liz moaned from the bed.  He edged in and _oh GOD the trash and portable toilet…_ he puked.

He managed to get that taken to the trash room, and bagged somehow… he had her take off the underwear… _those were gonna have to be burned_ , and hosed her off and then tried to dry her off, and she got … whatever that was because it wasn’t like regular blood… all over the towels.  He practically threw her supplies at her and fled again.

When Jim showed up he was lying on his bed with a bottle of electrolytes and a trash can, trying not to puke.

“Tiger? What the hell?”

“She’s probably dying, or an alien, or something…”

“…What?”

“She’s not just bleeding… it’s … it’s globs… and it’s black… and it smells…” he retched into the bucket.

Jim walked out.

After a very, very long time, Jim came back.

“Sebastian… I know you knifed people in close combat, you cleaned up after the flogging and the knife play, how can you be puking at the sight of blood?”

Sebastian tried to pick his head up: he felt green. “Black… globs…” _clotting blood_ … _coming out of her…_ he retched again.

Jim stared at him.

“You do NOT get to keep a pet if you can’t look after basic monthly care!”

“They do that every month?!”

“Yes, Sebastian, most women have their period every month.  She’s having a bad one because she went off the pill, but–”

He thought about the…THINGS… that this involved.  “I just became gay. I never want to see another girl as long as I live; I am never sticking my dick into one of those again!”

Jim stared at him for a while. “I think you’ll change your mind, Tiger.”

_Never._

 


	22. Picture this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a slightly shorter chapter... Steak, floggings, and a mistake.  
> unfortunately this is before Jim had the knowledge and resources he has now (hey, experience comes from doing)

Jim made him help with Liz anyway.  They were laughing at him, he could tell.

When she FINALLY stopped producing alien tadpoles and dripping blood, Jim insisted that he take her to HIS room for a real shower.

He gingerly got her out the door and started her down the hall to his room. She elbowed him in the gut, somehow managed to kick him, and was heading for the exit sign by the time Sebastian managed to grab her.  She put up a damn good fight considering the restraints.

He frog marched her into his room.

“Delays, Tiger?”

“She got away from me for a moment.” He grudgingly admitted.

Jim just shook his head.

Liz was staring around at the room. “There’s a winch in here too…” she said quietly.

“Of course there is,” Jim said with a smile, “Sebastian is MY pet, and he had to learn manners. He behaved and got a bit more freedom…”

“Why the hell don’t you–”

Sebastian clapped a hand over her mouth and leaned into her ear, “He keeps a shock stick on him, and you wouldn’t like it.”

Jim just looked amused. “If you think she can be trusted in the shower, go ahead, but make sure you get her onto the winch first.”

Sebastian got her hooked to the winch and rather dubiously let her into the shower.  He gave her a towel when she came out and he kept a watchful eye on her.

Jim brought in a couple trays of steak. “I’d lock her hands behind her, Tiger.”

Sebastian did, and got her onto a pad on the floor. Jim handed him a spare lock and he locked her wrist chain to her ankle chain.

She looked shocked when Sebastian settled down at Jim’s side and started getting fed steak.

“Why the FUCK don’t you–” Jim reached over and swatted her with the quirt. “Yow!”

“Either speak politely, or keep quiet.” Jim said calmly, feeding Sebastian another bit of steak.

“You’re out of your minds!”

“You are not the first person to make that observation, my dear, and it’s Sir.”

“Then what’s HE called, ‘Sir’?” _rhymed with asshole._ Sebastian grinned; apparently police had variations on “Sir” too.

“I have no idea what Sebastian wants you to call him; I expect he’ll tell you.” Jim cut a bit off another steak and held it out to her.  She was staring at it in disbelief, so Sebastian guided her forward to take it.

“You try anything, you don’t get any, it’s good steak.” Sebastian advised. She took the advice, if grudgingly.  She looked surprised.

“Told you.” Sebastian happily took the last bite of his steak and concentrated on making sure she didn’t bite or anything.

After steak Sebastian was mostly getting his scalp rubbed, and running his hands over Liz, and generally feeling like life really couldn’t improve much.  _There’s a girl almost in my lap, Jim’s petting me, the steak was good… hell, give me a big flat hot rock to lie on next to a pool and I’ll try to grow fur._

“There’s my Tiger,” Jim ran his hands down Sebastian’s neck– he leaned into it, his fingers finding a good spot on Liz. 

Liz struggled and spat out “Fucking–” and Jim leaned around Sebastian. There was a familiar crackle noise and Sebastian flinched.  He only felt a bit of it–apparently the chains let some of the electricity jump. Oddly it didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would.  The shriek from Liz, though, left his ears ringing.

“You need to be more consistent with disciplining your pet, Tiger.” Jim didn’t sound upset or anything.

Sebastian made himself small and leaned into Jim, “Yes, Sir, sorry… it doesn’t bother me.”

“Yes, well.  Even if it doesn’t bother you, Tiger, your pet needs to know to behave around other people.”

Liz was lying limply across him and panting.

Jim shrugged, “Clip her to the floor mat, Sebie, she doesn’t get dessert.”

He did.  She had her teeth gritted shut but her eyes were cursing a blue streak.  Sebastian petted her, “Yeah, I’ve been kind of soft on you.”

“I get the feeling you like her, Sebie?” Jim walked over and rubbed Sebastian’s back.

“She’s smarter than most of the girls I’ve been with.”

“Most of the girls you’ve been with have been too stupid to stay the fuck away from you!” she snapped.

Jim laughed, “Most of the girls he’s been with are either the hero worshiping sort who melt over his muscles and looks, and think they’re going to be ‘special’, or he probably chased them down a dark alley.”

“I usually didn’t chase them so much as catch up with them someplace,” Sebastian admitted. “Chasing people draws attention, but they’re more fun than the ones that don’t struggle.” Sebastian was thinking pleasantly about how much of a fight Liz had put up.

Liz was pulling away as far as she could on the mat–which wasn’t very.

“Sebastian would have ripped you apart if he’d caught up with you before I got him.” Jim said pleasantly.

Sebastian blinked a lot.  He looked back down at Liz… she was looking up at them with a shocked expression; naked, chained…he could feel the bruise on his ribs where she’d elbowed him.  He felt suddenly a bit dizzy– _I want her screaming as I fuck her_.

“Easy Tiger,” Jim said soothingly.

“Why… why isn’t she screaming? Or crying?” His head hurt. “Hell, she’s scarcely bruised.” He hadn’t been able to fuck her in days with that disgusting mess…

“Because you’ve been learning, Tiger.  You’re trying to learn to control your claws so you played a bit softer– that’s alright.” Jim had a hand on his back– Sebastian felt like he was vibrating, and Jim’s hand was annoying him–“ Eventually it will all settle out and you’ll be hurting people, but more controlled…”

Sebastian felt like he had to hit something, anything– he tensed and…

 Jim snapped, “Down!” and he dropped before he had a chance to think.

“I… I think… I think you better restrain me, Sir.” He didn’t dare look up, didn’t dare look at Liz, or even Jim.

“Good boy, Tiger.  Over to the pillar.”

He got up and went over; Jim locked his wrists to the pillar with the softer restraints.

“There’s a reason I only used the knife on your FRONT, Tiger,” Jim was sounding predatory again; it actually settled his nerves some.  He still kept his eyes closed and was leaning his head on the pillar.

“What the hell…?” he heard Liz’s voice, he yanked on the restraints– they were the soft ones, but that was soft padding over steel, they didn’t budge.

He heard Jim getting into the drawers. “Liz, if I turned him loose right now, you’d be lucky to survive ‘till morning, I suggest you be very quiet and very small.”

Jim came back, something clanked. Jim tapped his ankle and Sebastian widened his stance without thinking about it.  Jim locked a cuff on his ankle; he started feeling a bit better.

“You’re probably going to curse a lot, Tiger, It’s okay… but I don’t want to gag you because I think you need to breathe more, aright?”

Sebastian tried to nod.

“This is why that discussion on safewords, Tiger.  I know you’re going to yell, and you’re going to curse at me, and I’m going to ignore it all.” Sebastian could hear a flog swinging, he could hear Liz breathing raggedly, his hearing was too sharp, and his muscles felt like coiled springs and he HAD to get loose…

He yanked on his restraints again and the flog landed on his back.  Everything exploded. He fought the pillar, he fought the restraints… There was a woman screaming, he wanted to hit her over and over… someone was tracing lightning and fire on his back and legs…

Eventually it became… soothing… sort of vaguely hypnotic… he was very heavy…

“Sebastian?” Jim’s voice came from so far away…

“Tiger… is it green, yellow, or red?”  _That didn’t make any sense…_

“Sir?” he tried to say something– he supposed he must have been screaming before because his throat was raw.

Jim unlocked him and he slid down to the floor, it was so cold on the floor.  “Up you go Tiger, come on… bed…. you can do it.”

Sebastian saw his mat, it was blue, he lay down on it.  There was someone there already… they were warm…

“Well, I hope you’re comfortable, Liz,” Someone was talking from very far away, “because damned if I can move him.”  Jim was rubbing cream into his back– it was wonderful– he buried his head into someone’s body and wrapped his arms around them; they were comfortable, even if they squirmed. “I wouldn’t move much, if I were you…” Jim’s voice sounded amused.

He heard things moving but it wasn’t important.

Jim giggled, “Oh God, what a picture…” Sebastian distantly heard a click.

 


	23. I liked her...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which no one with a name dies, but Sebastian is very sad.

When he woke up he ached.  He ached and his back and thighs were burning, but he was lying on something comfortable and it smelled nice.

There was a stomach under his nose.  He was pretty sure it was a stomach because it had a belly button.  He licked it experimentally and Liz started cursing quietly.

“Liz? You smell better…”

“I SMELL better? What kind of lunatic are you?!” She started squirming a lot more.  The world slowly came into focus, he was lying on top of her with his arms wrapped around her hips, and her hands were cuffed behind her loosely.  He figured lying on the chain was probably painful. 

He rolled aside and hissed. “FUCK! Ow… shit… ow...” his back was on god damned FIRE!

“He half took your back off with a whip or something…” Liz said sort of cautiously.

“Yeah, it feels it.”  One of his ankles was cuffed? He looked down it was cuffed to the same ring her ankles were cuffed to… but only with a carabiner clip… he reached down and unclipped his ankle.

He carefully sat up. She’d been taken off the winch, but was tethered to the floor ring.  There was a box of condoms and lube just out of easy arms reach, along with a bottle of electrolyte.

He carefully got them and pulled them closer. “Want some?” he waved the bottle at her.

“Aren’t you going to run? You were screaming…”

“Run?” that didn’t make any sense at all.

“He took a whip to you! Your back is  a mess, look, you’ll do some jail time for what you’ve done but I can  probably get you a deal and he’ll go away for life, just unlock me and we can run before he gets back.”

He drank down the electrolytes and pulled on a condom, she looked stunned and then frightened. He flipped her over

“I didn’t want to run, Liz, I wanted to fuck you until you couldn’t walk and you begged for mercy… I still do, I’m just calmer.”  He used enough lube to make sure he wouldn’t hurt her too much and then he spent some time finding different ways to have fun.  He found out that all the lessons on guys work just as well on a girl, and it was the best of both worlds, except for the fact that by then she wasn’t struggling anymore.

By the time he got up to look for food his back just felt sore… all that sex made for great pain relief.  He took one of Liz’s pain pills anyway, and got in the shower.   _She… hadn’t been moving much…_ When he came out of the shower Jim was unclipping her from the floor and shaking his head. _She wasn’t moving, or making any noise…_

Sebastian went to his knees and looked worriedly at Jim. “Uh… did I damage her?” He wanted to hurt her, but he didn’t really want to damage her… well, not anymore, he had last night.

Jim sounded sad. “A bit, Tiger.  I shouldn’t have left her in with you, but you’re a big Tiger and too heavy for me to move easily.” Jim waved and Sebastian came over and knelt down again.  Jim started petting him. “I’m going to have to take her away and get her patched up.”

That hurt. He just nodded glumly.

“You watch her while I go get a stretcher.” Jim walked out. Sebastian pulled on his workout gear and waited.

Liz came to while Jim was gone, and he tried to reassure her, but she mostly cowered. “I didn’t want to hurt you THAT bad… I’m sorry… I only wanted to hurt you a little…”  She might have tried to talk but her voice was raspy– he could see his hand print around her throat.

Jim came back and Sebastian helped get her up on the stretcher.  He picked her up carefully; she had the most beautiful bruises forming all over– he wanted to kiss them.  They cuffed her hands to the sides of the stretcher and Sebastian helped to get her out to the van.

“Is… Is she going to be alright?”

“She should be, you didn’t hurt her nearly as badly as you could have.” Jim petted his arm.  “You go back inside and wait.”

He cleaned up, and worked out a little– mostly on the treadmill and stuff because his back hurt– and waited. After a while he went over and cleaned up her room, hosing things down and putting things away.

It was a very long time before Jim came back.

“Is she alright?” He hated how he sounded– he hated that he cared.

Jim  rubbed his scalp and  said gently, “Well, no, not right now, but she will be.  You did much less damage to her than you did to me.”

Sebastian flinched. “I didn’t want to damage her that much… this morning.  I kind of did last night, but–”

“And that’s why I took you down, Tiger.” Jim had him strip and lie face down on the bed.

Sebastian expected to be cuffed, he put his arms out to the corners, but Jim just started cleaning and treating his back and legs.

“You’re making progress, Sebastian,” Jim said as he rubbed something soothing into his back, “but you still lose control too easily.  You have to learn to stretch your claws out every now and then so you don’t snap.  You were doing pretty well with her before, but I think she made you uneasy sometimes… and then you didn’t do anything for a few days…”

“And she tried to run and she hit me,” Sebastian sighed.

“Now, in an ideal world she would have been nowhere near you when you woke up and honestly Tiger, I have to take the blame for that.”

“You?” Sebastian about went into shock.  It was insanely rare in his experience that anyone over him admitted fault for ANYTHING.

“Yes, Tiger, there’s some of this that is my fault–a lot of it actually.  I hadn’t realized you would be quite so out of it, and I didn’t think about you collapsing onto your mat–and she was on your mat.  Once you did, though, I couldn’t move you unless I got the winch and hauled you, and I chose not to do that.” Jim sighed, “and then I expected you to be interested when you woke up, but I hadn’t expected that– I should have.”

“I’m sorry, Sir.”

“I know, Tiger.  Well, I’ll try to salvage things with her anyway, I’ll just use you as a bit more of a threat than I expected.  Obviously she won’t be coming back.”

“Sorry, Sir…. I… I LIKED her…”

“I could tell.”  Jim changed tone, “Well, look on the bright side; you DID remember the lube, and you did make sure you did some preparation, so as a result I’m sure isn’t  going to have any permanent damage.”  He patted him carefully on the shoulder. “ You didn’t break any bones, or permenentlly damage her throat– that’s improvement!”

Sebastian tried not to sniffle, “Yes, sir.”

“I want you to rest, and drink some shakes.  Tomorrow start  stretching your back to make sure nothing tightens up, and I’ll see about getting you a new plaything, okay?” Jim petted him carefully.

“Yes, sir.”

He did his best, but what it kept coming back to was that he’d LIKED her, well… he’d eventually liked her, and she was smart, and tough, and if there was ever a girl that maybe he could have made it work with, it was Liz…

And he’d almost killed her just having fun.

Just like he almost killed Jim.

It wasn’t like killing anyone was that bad, if you MEANT To, but he hadn’t even meant to damage her and he was pretty sure she needed a doctor– Jim had needed a hospital for God’s sake!

*

“Hey, Tiger…” Jim said quietly from the door.

Sebastian dropped to his knees and Jim came over and petted him. “Good news, my doctor agreed that Liz has no permanent damage.”

Sebastian sighed, “That’s good… I… do you think… do you think I can ever have fun with someone without hurting them… a lot?”

“We’ve been working on it.  You’ve done really well with me.” Jim tilted Sebastian’s head up and looked at him very seriously, “You ARE improving.  You need to learn to recognize when you need an outlet, and you need a good bit more work on ‘hurt just a little’, but believe me, I wouldn’t get into bed with you, ankle cuff  or not, if I didn’t trust you to keep your claws sheathed. I used to lock your hands down, and I haven’t had to do that in a while.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now unfortunately I just found out that we have a time limit on some things.”

“What, Sir?”

“The rehab on this building got the final permit we were waiting for, so now it’s down to weather…which means I need to move you soon.”

That made him feel very uneasy– he was comfortable here– but he nodded, “Yes, sir.”

“So… I have someone I don’t need to keep, and we need answers out of quickly.  We’ll give you a chance to show off some of the military work, and I’ll teach you a few tricks, and then we have to clean up all the rooms down here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jim had him lie down, and he gave him a massage, and it helped, some.

He padded after Jim to one of the extra rooms and helped Jim get the guy out of the mail cart and onto a winch.  He was one of those guys that had been fit once, but now was running soft.

He sneered at Jim, “You’re just a small time hood and when we find out where you are you’re a dead man.”

“You… you don’t care if I leave any marks on this one?” Sebastian was sizing him up.

“Not a bit, have fun, Tiger. Want his clothes off?”

“Nah, this is okay.”  Sebastian started punching the guy. Left shoulder, right rib, left high hip, right high hip, left rib, right shoulder… move over two inches and start again…

Jim was looking approving when he glanced at him on the third round, “Nice aim.”

“Thanks, Sir.”

“Guh!”  He’d been grunting a lot but it seemed like he might be trying to say something. Sebastian stepped back, “Lemme go honest… I don’t know…”

Sebastian stepped forward and started taking rapid jabs at him; he was just getting really into it when Jim called a halt.

“Tiger, he’s not going to answer if you keep that up.”

“Sorry, Sir, just got a bit enthused…”

Jim petted him, “I know.  Why don’t you demo some waterboarding for me?”

He did. The guy was begging to answer by the second go round.  Jim listened to him and shook his head, “Wrong answer.” After a couple more go rounds he gave a different one– Jim liked that one.

“Want me to stop, sir?”

“Hmm? Oh…” Jim checked his watch, “we still have a bit of time before I have to dump the body, want me to show you some tricks?”

“Yes, please!”

Jim got out the violet wand, which confused him at first since that could be kind of painful, but not that bad…  Turns out that Jim was being NICE when he was using it on him.

Jim demonstrated the value of threats, too, even though he admitted right after watching the guy cringe and pee himself some more that he wouldn’t have done that– didn’t want to have to work that hard on disinfecting the wand and it could break inside him anyway.

After a short time with that, Jim spent some time lecturing about stuff they COULD do, but didn’t have time for, or didn’t need to do– Sebastian made notes.  After a while of that Jim’s timer beeped.  Sebastian broke his neck, loaded the guy out and they dumped the body in a trash compactor bin across town.

As they were driving back Sebastian said, “Thank you for not putting him in her old room, Sir.”

“I did rather think it would be better not to.”

Sebastian nodded.

“Come on, Tiger, Let’s get cleaned up, and then have a bit of fun.  Tomorrow we have to start clearing out the basement.”


	24. Field Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eeny, meeny, miney, mo  
> catch a Tiger by the toe  
> if he hollers let him go  
> eeny, meeny, miney, mo

 

After he got cleaned up, Jim got him into bed and put him on an ankle restraint; it was just a clip, not a lock, but it still made him feel better: Jim wanted him to try again.

“Even after Liz? I mean…”

“Tiger, the only way we’re both going to move past this is if I can trust you in bed without having to chain you down.  Now you know what to do, just take your time, alright?”

Sebastian tried, eventually Jim told him to kiss all the places he would normally put a bruise. He was fairly certain Jim was faking the pleased sounds, but it helped.   He helped Jim get loosened up and there was NOTHING to make him feel more freakishly outsized than to realize that two fingers for him was at least three for Jim.

Jim kept telling him what to do, and reassuring him that he had done all of this with the prisoners, it was okay… except this was Jim, and it was intensely wrong.

Jim finally put a cock ring on him so he could stay hard, because the worry kept having him lose it.

“Easy, Tiger, just take it slowly and pay attention to what I like, alright?”

It turned out Jim was a heavenly fuck.

He relaxed or tightened up at the perfect times, he was small enough to fit comfortably under Sebastian, and yet he knew exactly when Sebastian needed more, or faster, or just to hear that it was alright…

“God…”

“Yours, Tiger,” Jim rolled his hips under him and Sebastian almost melted on top of him, “The only God you have, and you keep remembering that.”

Jim eventually told him to take off the cock ring, and it didn’t take long after that to finish.

He collapsed onto Jim and then started apologizing.

“Just keep your weight off me, Tiger,” Jim rolled them both onto their sides. “There.  Nobody hurt.  Now wasn’t that a lot better?”

“That was fantastic.”

“I told you you’d have more fun with cooperation.”

“I’m… I’m really sorry, about… hurting you.”

“I know, Tiger, now get some rest, it will be a busy week.”

*

All of the smaller rooms had to be cleaned out and hosed down.  Sebastian got really melancholy when they did Liz’s room– Jim gave him a blow job and it helped a little. The winches had to come down, except in his room… apparently Jim was claiming that was for machine work.  Everything except the plumbing and the big exercise equipment got taken out, even the bed. Jim took him to pieces on the bed just before they stripped it and took it apart. He said it deserved a nice send off. 

Jim replaced the mat, this one was tan. He was very grateful– the blue one reminded him too much of Liz. Jim gave him a truly stunning blow job on the new mat, “just to get it broken in.”

~

The last night Jim had him lay out his outside clothes and in the morning he came and got him and they rode in the van–it was a different van, more like an appliance van.  Jim had him ride in the back and then they stopped, and then Jim came into the back and sat down with him.

“Are…” _Jim is not mad at me, he isn’t…_ Sebastian took a deep breath, “What’s going on, Sir?”

“Tiger… I told you once that if you really belonged to me, you wouldn’t want to hurt me, or leave.”

Sebastian blinked a lot. “I… could have left, sir, I don’t want to.” _I mean, I knew where the door was, and I’d been in the van._

“Sebie…” Jim handed him a card, it said something about “Jim Fix-it” and had a phone number on it. “That phone number will work ONCE.  You’re going to walk out of this van, and I don’t want to hear from you for a week.” Sebastian’s eyes went wide and he started to protest, “Not for at least a week, Sebastian, unless you’re in actual trouble!”

“Y-yes sir…”

“After that, you can call me and tell me you want to come back, or not.”

“I… I don’t understand?”

“If you call, and tell me you want to come back, then its forever, Tiger.” Jim reached out and petted his cheek, and stroked down his neck–Sebastian leaned into it, but his mind was spinning.  “I hope you’ll come back, Tiger, but I want it to be your choice.  If you want to leave you can, I’ll let you go… although you might want to leave London if you do.”

Jim handed him a small box and opened the van door; Sebastian was gently pushed out.  He stood there blinking in a back alleyway while Jim drove away in the van.

He felt horribly exposed, and pulled his jacket around himself.  He had the craziest urge to try to find a corner and just hide there until he could figure out what to do.  He ended up huddled against a wall.  He opened the little box and found a key… it looked like it should be familiar, but he couldn’t figure it out.

Eventually he walked to the end of the alley.  There was a small market–it looked very familiar… he turned and looked around trying to place it…

That was his building…  His flat was in that building…

He slowly walked up.  He’d been gone long enough, the rent unpaid. He walked in and stopped at the landlord’s office…

“Hello?” He’d never felt so uncertain talking to anyone before, he felt like he was shaking.

“Yes?”  The girl looked up.  He vaguely remembered her from what felt like another life… “OH! Mister Moran? You’re back then?”

“Uh, yes? I’m sorry I’m not… is my flat still…”

“Everything was paid up through next month by your solicitor, sir, it’s quite alright. I’m so sorry to hear about your Aunt.” She had the polite sympathetic look that he knew from a million society events. 

 _My aunt?_ He just nodded slowly. “Just wanted to check in before I went up…”

“You do look a bit…” the sympathetic look got a bit more genuine, “It must have been such a shock.”

“Yes, yes it … yes it was.” He nodded and went out.  _My… Aunt?  My solicitor paid through next month?  That had to be Jim…_

The key turned in the lock to his flat and he went in, closing it behind him.  Everything was exactly as it had been; except someone had come in and cleaned, by the look of it…

He wandered around in a sort of lost fashion. It all looked like he remembered, but…

It was too small, especially the ceiling– he felt claustrophobic.

It was the wrong colors, and everything was so jumbled, and cloth covered– how did you hose it off?

The bed was in a separate room and it was too small.

There was no exercise gear.

His bathroom had a door.

There was no place to hook a chain to, not one.

He finally noticed a box on the counter he was fairly certain hadn’t been there before.  He opened it– it had a pile of money and his old wallet in it.

He ended up huddled on the sofa, staring sort of blankly ahead for a long time.  That was a window.  That was outside.  He could actually tell if it was day, or night, and how long things were taking…

At some point he went to his fridge and  then he cursed himself for an idiot, figuring it would be either empty or awful, but it had a couple of meal shakes, a few bottles of electrolytes, and a few apples in it, as well as some cream for his tea.

He stripped and put his clothes away, and tried to sleep– he finally managed.

~

He tried watching the telly over tea and a shake, but the endless yammering just made him edgy.  He remembered to get dressed, went out and bought a paper, and came back.  The news was strange.  Some of that was just HAVING news, the rest he put down to Jim taking over criminal gangs and things like that. 

He finally found a brief mention of the ongoing investigation in the disappearance of Detective Elizabeth Donner. Her ex-husband was looking guilty as fuck, and the Detective on the case– some Lestrade guy– was certain that it was foul pay as she “wasn’t a suicidal type”.  Sebastian wondered what Jim was doing with her…

He never would have left the flat, but eventually he had to go shopping.  The crowd and the lights, and the sheer number of choices made his head spin, it was like the first time he had military leave only worse. He bought the basics and hurried back.

~

No one came to see him.  No one petted him or had mind bowing sex, or told him what to do. He pulled his weapons out of their hiding places and cleaned them, he straightened everything…

~

By the fourth day he was going mad, he was sure of it.  He was pacing the apartment exactly like a caged tiger, but whenever he went out he hated it.

 _Steak._   _If Jim wasn’t here to give him a steak, well… he was on his own, he could just go GET one, right?_

He ended up in a little place that had steak and ale.  It was… _okay… I guess_. After he was back at his flat he thought about it and realized that Jim had really good taste, and probably bought steaks at a much nicer place. He must, actually, because what little conversation he overheard was moronic–Jim could never have tolerated it.

~

The fifth day he went to one of the pubs he’d been hanging out in before Jim, but he left fast.  None of the gang he knew were there– they were probably dead– and he wasn’t sure what he would do if anyone DID recognize him.

~

The sixth day he went shopping again, and ended up finding a Middle Eastern food shop called Cairo’s… _Liz… Liz mentioned the name: that was where Jim got her veggie and hummus platter_ … he found the platter Jim had bought when he went inside– Liz had been living near here.  He wondered if Jim paid her rent too.  He  wandered in to a pub nearby–it seemed like a  cop hang out, he ended up chatting with some guy named Greg who had worked with her at the Met. Sebastian claimed his name was Mark, and to have met her arguing over the last hummus platter at Cairo’s– Greg seemed to believe that.

“People kept saying she either committed suicide or ran off, but I knew that didn’t make sense.” Greg said as he was into his second, or third, beer.

“She wouldn’t run.” Sebastian said firmly, “Not her, and she wouldn’t kill herself over something like that.”

“You sound like you knew her pretty well.”

Sebastian shook his head, “Not that well, but… I guess some people make an impression…”

“It was her Ex-husband, I’m sure of it.”

Sebastian just nodded, “From what little she said it sounded like he’d planned this a long time ago and blindsided her... that kind of guy– well…” Sebastian shrugged, not sure what Jim had set up.

They exchanged phone numbers, although Sebastian did tell him he might be moving, “New job, you know.”

After Greg left the general IQ in the pub apparently took a nose dive.  There were a few girls he might have picked up, but… not in a cop bar.

He went home and had hummus and vegetables, and after dumping a ton of hot sauce in it, it was a lot better.  He supposed Liz hadn’t been much of one for hot sauce–well, no one was perfect. Come to that, nothing Jim had given him was really spicy, not like he considered it.  He sat there and thought about it.  He had no idea what Jim ATE other than top quality steak –and trimmings– and apples.  The toffee treats were for Sebastian, but… Jim assumed a treat was a small sweet thing, and the treat dinner was a savory... Sebastian wondered if JIM didn’t like spicy.

It was a bit eerie to realize how little he actually KNEW about Jim.

Sebastian started adding it up.

Favorite foods? All he was fairly sure of was apples.

Color? No idea.

He for damn sure knew what he liked in bed… _no, no I don’t_. He realized with a shock.  I think he really does like it slow, and a lot of attention.  He considered carefully: _yes, Jim liked being the focus of attention, he liked blowing my mind with a blow job, he liked … he liked being worshipped_.  Sebastian began to suspect the rest of it was just … window dressing.

Jim was, by his own statement, a psychological sadist. He liked control and manipulation… Sebastian turned this over in his mind.  _I’d hurt Jim.  Jim could easily have killed me, Jim could easily have made me die a slow and painful death… he didn’t.  This was in NO way because he was soft; it was because he wanted a tame Tiger.  He wanted to not just break me, but turn me into a pet._

Liz had been stunned that his room had a winch; Jim had pointed out that Sebastian was HIS pet– and had earned some freedom for good behavior.

Sebastian made himself look at what had happened, even though his mind kept shying away from it.  Sleep deprivation, food and water restriction, a lot of pain, loss of time cues, isolation… until he behaved, even a little, then… tons and tons of positive reinforcement, including what was objectively fantastic sex. He’d had opportunities to hurt, capture, or kill Jim.  He’d had opportunities to get away from him.  By the time he GOT those opportunities he had already started breaking down, and he was emphatically rewarded for behaving.

_Jim… had successfully conditioned me.  I went from wanting to hurt him and put him down to … having hysterics at being on top, letting him completely control me in bed, and taking whatever he wanted to try._

_It was SOOOO much better his way_ , a traitorous part of his mind reminded him. He shoved it down.

 _Belts, flogs… that had been associated with his father, or corporal punishment at school. It was in NO way enjoyable, and it was just a way for other people to… put…me… down_. Sebastian went over things in increasing panic. When he’d gotten big enough, strong enough, had enough power, the FIRST thing he did was stop other people from putting him down, including taking the damned belt right out of his Father’s hands and threatening him if he ever used it again… Jim had put him down with a flog, and Sebastian walked up and put his hands in the cuffs for him.  He ENJOYED it.

Jim had successfully trained him to not only submit to being flogged, but to enjoy it– to take it as a treat.

_Just HOW badly had Jim turned my head around?!_

 


	25. Jittery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor neurotic Tiger

Sebastian didn’t sleep much that night.  He stayed up trying to think over what Jim had done until he passed out–had horrible dreams– and woke up worrying about it the next day.

It was day seven, a week, and he had to fight the urge to call and beg Jim to take him back.

_I caught him, fucked him, held him down; I apparently put him in the hospital; I am stronger by a lot, bigger by a lot…_

“I’m a much better sadist than you are, Sebastian, but you’re stronger, and larger, and you aren’t stupid… I’m going to teach you how to break people in ways you never even imagined.” He’d said that.  _I was stronger and larger… but he was the better sadist.  He put me down, made me beg… eventually I begged for more._

Sebastian thought about how Jim knew how to transfer a prisoner… how he’d used the winch to take the fight out of prisoners, _to keep people like me from being able to over power him_.

 “… I never got big enough; I had to get smart enough.”

He’d taken punishments and abuse and turned them into rewards… _What if you made them enjoy it?_

He wanted a tame Tiger–he’d gotten one, and now he wanted to see if I’d come crawling back to my cage.

_Fuck no._

Sebastian got dressed and went out looking to get back some of his game.  It was a bit early and there was too much light, and too many people, but eventually he found some group of wanna be gang members in an out of the way spot and said something rude about their sports team.

They obliged by trying to kill him.

He left them in a battered heap and felt a lot better.

He came home and got changed… he went out to get dinner and he didn’t think about Liz, or Jim, at all… well, he mostly didn’t think about Jim.  A flash image of kneeling at Jim’s feet being fed came to mind…

 _How DARE he put me down?!  I could put him down and fuck him; I DID put him down and fuck him!_   Sebastian started thinking pleasant thoughts about having Jim on a leash.  _I wouldn’t hurt him that bad–God knows he was brilliant in bed– but it would be on my terms…_

He looked around nervously, half expecting Jim to show up and punish him for even thinking it. He noticed that all the other customers were looking away, and the waiter wasn’t coming by.  He figured he must look like murder.

He went out and wandered around until he found one of the gay clubs.  He was half expecting to see Jim.  _Would I take him down? Would I try?_ Sebastian worried that if he saw him he’d just end up on his knees.

Eventually he saw some twink sneaking off into the back alley with a larger guy, by the looks of it to give him a blow job or something. _Damn shame he wasn’t a brunette._

Sebastian itched to take him down and rip him apart.

Jim’s voice came unbidden to mind, “You no longer hurt people because they’re gay, or pretty, or whatever: you hurt people because I say you can.” Sebastian tried to get his dick to cooperate, but that thought had completely withered him.

 _I can still beat the snot out of him_.

Sebastian prowled around and realized the bigger guy had two buddies, and they’d just grabbed the little twink’s arms…

_“When you find idiots who need five to one odds to attack people who never bothered them, just because they’re gay– or some other person minding their own business–you can stretch your claws a bit, providing you have time, and don’t get caught, of course.”_

His libido roared back to life, and he smiled…he was on them like a Tiger.

He broke one of the guy’s shoulders, judging from the scream.  The second one went down with one clean shot to the jaw.  The guy who’d escorted the twink out to the alley turned with a knife– the little guy had enough sense to take off.  Sebastian just grinned at the guy with the knife, he was holding it okay but he left his legs unguarded. He did a leg sweep and the fellow went down, Sebastian grabbed his wrist and twisted as he fell– he thought he heard the wrist snap.

Sebastian let the knife drop.  He kicked the guy hard between the legs and watched him curl up.  Bad shoulder dude was trying to run, Sebastian dragged him back  and used his own belt to tie his hands behind his back– with his shoulder like that he wasn’t going to get loose. He secured the knock out dude, and then the guy who was still whining about his nuts.  Then he grinned… _this was going to be fun…_

The shock hit him hard.

He hadn’t been able to get enthused about the little guy, but he’d had Jim’s PERMISSION to go after these guys.  That’s why it was so good, that’s why he was suddenly ready to go… He felt like throwing up.  He left them lying in the alley and walked away.

Somehow he ended up at a bar.  He just sat there drinking.  _I’m out, I’m free, and the bastard still has my dick on a leash…_ He dedicated himself to getting drunk enough to stop thinking. Eventually some equally drunk girl made it clear she was interested, clear enough to get through his alcohol soaked brain, anyway.  He looked her over–not bad, assuming it wasn’t the booze talking.

He’d definitely be remembered leaving with her, so he invited her to his place–less temptation to hurt her that way.  The ride home in the taxi sobered him up a bit, once he got into the flat he  made sure they both had some electrolytes and water before he got her into the bedroom.

She obligingly went down on him.  Well, it was polite of her, but frankly it wasn’t anything worth mentioning. Still, Sebastian supposed it should be encouraged.  He tossed her on the bed, she giggled.

“Lemme find out if you’re a screamer…” Sebastian grinned… Any other time that might have been a threat, but not in his own house.

He held her down on the bed casually and started exploring.  She liked it softer than he did, but… he experimented with switching up soft and hard, licking and kissing one moment and nipping the next.

She was a gasper and a moaner apparently, but God DAMN she begged nicely! It was a different kind of begging than he was used to, but he kind of liked it.

She didn’t really know what to do with her hands so once he had his condom on, and the lube handy, Sebastian just flipped her over and held her wrists over her head.   He definitely didn’t need the lube, she was dripping.  It made a really pleasant change from Liz…

He shook his head and focused on the present.

He held her down on the bed and fucked her until she was thrashing and moaning… it was almost as good as her putting up a fight…

He let go of her hands but kept her face down and started stretching her out… she made sort of panicky “no anal” noises.

“Babe… hasn’t it been good so far?” She nodded. “Then just go with it.”

She wasn’t too thrilled as he got himself in place–damn she was tight– but then he started working over her tits with his hands, and going over her neck with his mouth. Eventually she was writhing on his dick.  After he came he reached down and used his hands on her pussy.  This time when she came she made little shrieking noises.

Sebastian meant to toss her out, but he’d gotten used to just falling asleep after sex.

He woke up a bit confused when someone moved.  Some part of his brain said Jim had to leave and he went back to sleep.  He woke up again a bit later when the recollection hit him.

He went out of the bedroom trying to sort through his emotions.  He’d done a good job on the girl, it was fun, he’d had fun…. But he still half expected Jim to show up and reward him.

…

The girl was making breakfast.

“Uh… morning?”

She looked at him with these big sort of awestricken eyes. “I… made breakfast? I don’t know how you like things, but since you had coffee and eggs …”

“Yeah,” he smiled at her, “That’s great.  I hope you won’t think I’m rude, but I forgot your name.”

“Kendra, I… I don’t remember yours either?”

“Sebastian.” He would have lied about it, but he’d paid for the bar tab with his own card, so…

She put a plate of food down, “You’re really... great.” She ducked her head a bit, “I was just going for a quickie but you’re… um… did you have plans for the day?”

His ego liked the stroking, but the LAST thing he wanted was her hanging around getting on his nerves, “Sadly, yes. I work weird hours; I have to go into work this afternoon…”

“Oh…”

“I may be out of town on business for a bit, but I’d love to have your phone number for when I get back, if that’s okay?” _or I need a quick fuck._  

While she wrote it out happily and got his number–the one he had the answering machine hooked up to and screened all his calls– he had pleasant thoughts about teaching her how to be better in bed and having a pet.  Then he realized what he was thinking and tried to shake himself out of it.

He showed her out, with her making noises about him being “considerate” which really stunned him. _No one ever fucking called me THAT before!_  He supposed it was from actually… paying attention to what she liked.

He sat down and put his head in his hands.

He couldn’t even pick up a quick fuck in a pub without it… without it being changed by what Jim had done to him. He wondered if he’d be “considerate” if he tried to fuck some little twink behind a bar– assuming he could make himself do it.

_… No way were anyone else’s blow jobs going to measure up._

Sebastian forced himself to think about it.  IF he could find someone who was halfway decent, or train them, and have them  really down, really submitting to him, then  that might work… but what made Jim’s blow jobs spectacular was the fact that… they weren’t submissive. Not a bit.  It was edgy and scary and you never quite got over the fact that if he wanted to he could do anything to you.

… And he was fantastic at it.

 _I’m never going to be able to find anyone else who could make cutting me up with a fucking KNIFE sexy…_ and if he thought too much about Jim and flogs he started  getting a hard on, and weak in the knees.

_What the hell am I going to do?_


	26. A vision of Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> C.S. Lewis and bad customers

It was day eight, he was apparently only able to beat people up or even think about sex if Jim would have approved, and he was “considerate” in bed.

 _Fuck my life_.

He rather morosely got cleaned up and dressed and went in search of food.  Maybe I can find something spicy?  He was prowling around downtown London, when his nose picked up the unmistakable smell of really good steak. He followed the smell to an inconspicuous  place, not too far from a lot of government offices, he supposed, which was probably why it was mostly empty right now: too late for lunch and too early for dinner and on a weekend.

He ordered a steak and took the suggested glass of wine.  One bite and he was sure this was one of the places Jim got steak from.  He was eating it slowly, enjoying the phantom sensation of Jim’s fingers rubbing his scalp, when a voice interrupted.

“Moran?”

He opened his eyes and looked up.  _Bureaucrat, middle class pretending to upper class, soft hands, non- combatant… wait, I know this guy…_ it was Mitchell–his contact from the London Secret Intelligence Service.

“Oh, um… hi.” Sebastian struggled to think of anything to say, _“Sorry I was held prisoner by a rival criminal after getting involved with the underworld because I was bored”_ sounded a bit wrong. “I haven’t seen you in a while…”

“Actually I’m glad to run into you!” he said cheerfully, “may I join you?” he asked and then sat down without waiting for a reply. Sebastian bristled.

He snapped his fingers at the waiter, who was giving him that “spat in food” look.  Sebastian caught the waiter’s eye as he was ordering and tried to look apologetic.

“So we may be able to hire you on sooner than expected!” he said cheerfully, if a bit quietly, once the waiter had left. “You’ve been doing an excellent job of staying out of sight…”

 _Yeah, being a prisoner will do that._ “You did ask me to lie low for a bit.” He said in as neutral a voice as he could manage.

Mitchell started talking about the job, and how useful Sebastian could be, and the respectable and public parts of public service.  He didn’t let up, laying it on thick as butter as if Sebastian couldn’t hear the undercurrent of it all: how useful a minor noble would be, how much having a connection in the House of Lords was worth, how much they could keep him on a leash just by virtue of his  “scandal”.

As the warbling bureaucrat ate his overcooked and over seasoned steak, and went on… and on… and on… Sebastian had a horrifying vision of his future.

Working in a suit, paperwork all day, only getting to question people when that came up, which wasn’t likely to be that often, and having to deal with idiots like him.  The endless drudging respectability of it: no clubs, definitely no men, being civil to his father… eventually being expected to marry some respectable and boring girl to get his promotion… office walls, and nothing exciting until one day he retired– if he hadn’t blown his brains out by then.

Sebastian amended his vision of hell. C.S. Lewis was right: hell was bureaucracy and self-important men with clean hands passing rulings that they expected other people to dirty their hands with.

“Can you excuse me for a minute?” Sebastian smiled and nodded toward the men’s room.

“Oh… of course.” He hadn’t noticed how little attention Sebastian had been paying, too wrapped up in hearing his own sales pitch.

Sebastian walked out and pulled out his phone.  He’d memorized Jim’s number the first day, afraid of losing the card.

“Hello, Tiger.”  When he heard Jim’s familiar voice on the phone he almost went to his knees.

“Oh thank God…”

“Yours, Tiger,” Jim’s amused chuckle was like a hand petting down his back.

“I…I want to come home,” Sebastian took a deep breath and made himself continue before Jim could reply, “but I need to talk about some things.”

There was a faint pause, “Oh?”

“I… I think there are some things… I think I’d like to talk about what it would mean to come back, in a bit more detail…”

He held his breath–he had no idea what he would do if Jim said no…

“I don’t know what you’d have to talk about, Tiger, but I suppose we could talk some, possibly over dessert…”

Sebastian shivered, the taste of sweets and creams and Jim’s fingers….

“I... uh…Would you like a present, Sir?”

He could almost hear Jim’s eyebrow go up. “That depends on the present, Sebastian...”

“My contact from intelligence is here… he’s an asshole, but I’m betting he has useful information…”

Jim’s voice purred, “GOOD boy, Tiger.” And this time Sebastian only stayed up by leaning on the wall.  He almost came in his pants from the praise. “Pull yourself together, go back and let him yammer, and order dessert and wine for you both.  Don’t let him switch the wine, and make sure he drinks it. Then have the waiter call a cab.”

“Yes, Sir.” It felt like the world was suddenly more stable– _I have orders,_ he realized _.  That’s going to be more comfortable…_

He went back to the table, and gritted his teeth through more yammering, until– “They have good dessert here; I was planning on ordering…”

“Oh? I should be getting back to work…” he sounded hesitant.

Sebastian shrugged “Once you get back to work you fill out a form and then all this time IS work: meeting with a contact, right?”

He looked cheered by that, and Sebastian just asked for the dessert special and wine with it…

The waiter was still looking at the other guy with contempt, but he was looking a hell of a lot more respectful of Sebastian.

When the waiter brought two plates of dessert, he made a point of setting Sebastian’s wine down first.  It had a green wine charm on the glass, Mitchell’s was red. Safewords, Sebastian realized, they were tagged with the safewords…

“To future endeavors,” Sebastian picked up his glass, “And dessert.” He almost kept from smirking at the double meaning–almost.

Mitchell obligingly clinked glasses and drank his wine.  It was good wine, and the dessert was excellent, although kneeling at Jim’s feet certainly added– _STOP thinking about it!_

By the end of dessert Mitchel seemed pretty drunk, and sleepy, so whatever was in the wine must have been pretty strong.  He called the waiter over and asked for a cab, the waiter was looking at Mitchell with an unpleasant smile, but he just nodded.

“It’s already waiting out back, sir. Let me help you with him, pity he drank so much.”

“Occupational hazard I suppose.”

Once they were in the back– and yes there was a cab– the waiter just said wistfully, “Kick him for me, will you? He was a horrid customer.”

Sebastian grinned, “Sure.”

The cab driver pulled out without directions.  Mitchell fell asleep after a minute or two, Sebastian just enjoyed the ride. They pulled up eventually at the back of a building. Jim was in casual clothes leaning by a door.

Sebastian tried to look at him objectively.  He had a soft face, you might even call it a baby face–he looked cute– but the faint smile on his lips didn’t reach his eyes. At first glance his body looked soft, too, but Sebastian knew he was coiled muscle under there; Jim was just one of those guys who was going to have a bit of padding unless he went to extremes. Sebastian would be willing to bet those casual clothes were tailored, and yes, tailored to conceal a knife or two at least. At first glance he looked harmless, and friendly, and exactly the kind of guy you might find cheerfully drunk at a gay club…And Sebastian really wasn’t certain how much of that was an act, just that some of it was.

“Hello, Tiger.” He had that edge behind his voice that could mean fun times, or really bad times.

Sebastian got out slowly, uncertain of what to do. He found himself ducking his head by reflex. “Would you like me to get him out of the cab, sir?”

Jim just nodded and opened the door.  Sebastian hauled Mitchel out of the cab and went in when Jim waved him through. There were stairs up and stairs down, Sebastian went down by habit.  He could hear Jim’s light tread behind him on the stairs and it was unnerving because he honestly had no idea what was going to happen.

There was a steel door, propped open, and a damp grey concrete room with a mat…Sebastian froze in the doorway.

“It’s not your room, Tiger.” Jim’s amused voice from behind him.

He was pretty sure he whined, but he carried Mitchel in and put him down on the mat. There was a pair of handcuffs and leg cuffs and when he looked up there was a winch and a line. He collapsed shivering.

“It’s alright, Tiger.” Jim said gently as he reached past him and closed the cuffs on Mitchel.  He locked his legs to a chain on the floor, and his wrists to the winch line, and then he reached down and held out his hand.

“Come on Sebastian, you said you wanted to talk?”

Sebastian looked up into soft brown unreadable eyes.  He couldn’t really bring himself to say anything.  Jim was holding out his hand, and he took it.

Jim slipped his arm through Sebastian’s and walked him out, closing the door with a heavy “clang” behind them.

Jim was smaller, and softer, and at some level Sebastian knew he could outrun him, or break his neck, but somehow Jim was as inescapable and implacable as gravity… _and the weight of his arm on mine is as comfortable and secure as a locked cuff._

“So, Tiger, once we get upstairs and settled down with a bit of dessert…we’ll talk.”

 


	27. Home is where the Heart is...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian would always follow him.

Upstairs turned out to be in the middle of rehab into expensive luxury flats. Sebastian could see exposed wiring on one floor, but the floor they ended up on was finished except for the painting. Jim let them into a door: this flat was furnished but it had the empty sterile luxury of a model.

“It… looks like a model home?”

“It is, basically. All the appliances work, it’s move in ready, but it’s set up to show prospective tenants.” Jim sat down on one of the chairs and waved at the chair on the other side of the little table. “If you want to TALK, Sebastian, then sit over there.”

He sat down gingerly in the other seat. This was the first time he’d been sitting with Jim as if he was… _not my owner._ Sebastian wasn’t sure what to think about that.

Jim sat back in his chair and looked at him. “What is there to talk about?”

“Everything is messed up,” Sebastian sighed.

“Can you narrow that down just a tad?”

Sebastian chuckled a bit darkly, “I wanted to go after some little twink at a club, did you know that?” Jim just smiled a bit and cocked his head. “And I couldn’t. And then he got jumped by these three guys and I took them apart.”

“Good for you. You didn’t get caught, I trust?”

“And that’s what I mean!” he yelled. “I couldn’t go after that guy because of what you said, and then I COULD go after those idiots because I had your permission!”

Jim was blinking a bit. “Right, loud.” He said sort of idly, “Yes, I did give you permission to go after bullies like that.”

“I don’t LIKE it!”

“Yes, you do, Sebastian. You needed someone to take control of your life. Your entire life has been just going from one sensation to another, from one high to another–oh, you didn’t use drugs, but you can’t tell me combat isn’t a high–with the only discipline in your life being the military…” Jim smiled at him, “And I dare you to tell me you didn’t love the military.”

Sebastian felt like with every sentence his world got further askew. He… He felt adrift, before the military school. The military was grand, but it wasn’t enough all the time… and then they threw him out.

“You threw me out.”

“Because I needed you to realize you NEED me, Sebastian, and to come back on your own. I didn’t throw you out–after all, I told you: you come back, it’s forever, Tiger. No retirement; no discharge–I own you.”

“You LEFT me!”

“Because otherwise you would have run, eventually, and it might have been at a time when I couldn’t afford the distraction.”

“I… I would never have run.”

“Oh? You didn’t start thinking about how much you DIDN’T want to belong to me? You didn’t snarl and run off to go hunting on your own… thinking you were going to be a wild Tiger again?”

Sebastian just sat there; he couldn’t deny it. Jim got up and walked into the kitchen; he came back with two teas and put them down. The one nearer Sebastian looked exactly the way he liked it.

“Admit it, Sebastian: you were angry and you wanted to run. That would have happened eventually in any case, ESPECIALLY as I gave you more responsibilities and you had to do more work on your own.”

“I– I guess.”

“If you’d run when I NEEDED you, when I trusted you to do something, I would have had to hurt you, Tiger. I would have had to punish you…”

“And you don’t want to punish me,” he finished, remembering all the times Jim said that.

“No, I don’t.”

“I know what you were doing, you know. I understand how it works–brainwashing.”

“I’m sure you do Sebastian. I’m very good at it though.”

“Why? Why me?”

“You were wasted on that gang you were playing with. You were smart enough to realize that your boss should have taken my offer. I didn’t know who you were then, but I was looking you up, as best I could in between other projects, because it was pretty clear that you were going to be running things soon.”

“Me?”

“You were stronger AND smarter than he was, Sebie… Eventually, you would have taken over, unless he had you killed first. I didn’t know that you were just marking time, but… you couldn’t have just kept working for him–he wasn’t worth you.”

Sebastian nodded slowly.

“I had already been thinking of hiring you, or something, when all hell broke loose and then you attacked me.”

“I’m sorry…” he said it before he could stop himself, then he just put his head in his hands, “Fuck me, WHY am I sorry, I’m not… I shouldn’t be!”

Suddenly there was a hand on his neck; he leaned into it.

“Because you need me, Tiger. I’m the one who can give your whole LIFE meaning, not just little pieces of it. Like you said, you knew what you could do, and what you couldn’t, because I told you–even when I wasn’t there.” Jim’s hands ran down and rubbed his shoulders: some of the tension started leaving them. “You had a father who wasn’t worth listening to, who wasn’t able to give you the structure you desperately wanted, because he was frightened of you, and petty. He sent you to military school as a punishment, and you thrived–because you NEED someone to give you direction.”

“And then the military…” Sebastian whispered.

“And then they let you down. You did what they wanted and they abandoned you, left you to make your own way, trusting you to come when they whistled.”

“You did the same thing!”

Jim leaned down and spoke in his ear, “No, I didn’t, Tiger. I watched you the whole time.”

“What?” He twisted around to look at Jim.

Jim walked back to his chair and sat back down. “I needed you to understand that you didn’t really want to leave, Tiger. To do that I had to let you go, so you could see how much better off you were with me. The military didn’t understand your needs–how much you HAVE to stretch your claws out–I do; I’ve been teaching you to do it safely.”

Sebastian nodded slowly.

Jim smiled faintly–it reached his eyes this time–“If I hadn’t made you go now you would have run at a bad time, and I would have had to punish you.”

“You said that…”

“This way, it was your choice to come back. The next time the urge to run comes up–and it will happen–you can stop and remember what it was like, you can remember that you CHOSE to come back. Yes, the first time I netted you, and yes, I had to tame you a bit, but I won’t pull your claws, Tiger… That petty bureaucrat in the basement would have pulled your claws and your teeth and locked you in a cage with nothing to do… boring, dreary, grey… forever…”

Sebastian shuddered, “I know, I could see it.”

“I like your claws, Tiger, and I have no intention of pulling them. I just need to teach you to keep them sheathed when you play with me.” Jim got that predatory look again, “And you had to understand that you can LIKE being on the other side of it, when it’s done right.”

Sebastian started getting hard just thinking about it, he forced his mind back on topic, “You were watching me?”

“Of course. It was your first time back outside, really, you might have gotten hurt!”

“You paid for my apartment…”

“Yes, and I bugged your apartment, Sebie.” Sebastian’s head came up in shock. “Nice job with Kendra, by the way.”

He’d bugged the apartment… _I hadn’t even LOOKED for a bug, and I should have because he obviously had the key… Wait…_ “Kendra worked for you?”

“Oh! No, not a bit. I did have a few people who worked for me in the club, but that was mostly to run interference in case you got a bit wild… I didn’t want to have to try to cover up a murder, but you seemed controlled enough when you took her home.”

“Oh.”

“Still a nice job,” Jim smiled at him.

“It… It was fun, even if… you’re better.”

“Of course I am, Sebie: silly comparison.” Jim shrugged. “Once you’re back, properly, I can take you to some of the fun clubs, and teach you some new tricks… I think you’ll enjoy it, but it’s easier to enjoy when you walk in voluntarily.”

“You made me enjoy flogs…” Sebastian sighed. He was going to come back, he might as well admit it, he was always going to have come back.

“Honey, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried shibari, it makes a tiger net look positively boring.” Jim was grinning wickedly.

“I just… I wanted some control…”

“No, you don’t, Tiger–you want respect.”

“…what?”

“You don’t want that much control, Tiger. You need someone to give you rules; it just needs to be someone who’s WORTH listening to. You need to respect them, and they need to respect you. I have a lot of respect for you, Sebastian.”

“You… do? Even with what I did?”

“You’ll be making it up to me for a long time, Tiger, but yes. You’re smart, and fast, and you can think on your feet. Yes, you’re brilliant with a gun, but if that was all you were I could hire someone. You like to hurt people, but you NEED me, you need the control, because no one ever taught you properly.”

Jim sighed, “Come here, Tiger.”

Sebastian was over to his chair before he even thought about it. Jim stood up with an eerily sinuous grace and kept him from going to his knees. He stood there, right up against him, looking up at him. Sebastian’s dick was definitely interested, but…

“And right now you’re waiting for me to tell you what to do and a part of you wants to throw me down and hurt me, and another part wants to kneel down and be petted.”

Sebastian flinched. _Spot on._

“You could kill me, Tiger, but you are never going to break me: I said that before. If you try, you just lose all that lovely control and all the direction in your life that makes everything so much easier…”

He shuddered, “I… I don’t want to lose you, I just… I just want things on my terms…”

“No, you really don’t. What you do want, and what you WILL get, is your own place to live–several, in fact–and your own car, your own money, and as long as you don’t break any rules you can spend it and live any way you like.”

Sebastian blinked at him, “But you said–”

“And when I snap my fingers you come running. If I tell you to lie on the bed with your hands behind your back, or I point at someone and say ‘I want them begging’, you are going to do it.”

“No questions asked?”

“How idiotic; of course you can ask questions.” Sebastian blinked a lot. “If you weren’t smart I wouldn’t be interested. You can ask questions, you can even disagree with me–politely of course–“

“Yes, Sir,” Sebastian nodded. This was sounding like everything he wanted and hadn’t even known how to ask.

“–but in the end, I’m in charge. Period.”

It felt exactly like wearing the ankle clip, like it was safe. He understood why people talked about a “weight lifting from his mind” because yeah, it did feel like that.

He hesitantly reached out and put his hands on Jim’s hips. Jim didn’t object.

“And… if I want to do something?”

“You ask, Tiger.”

“I’d like to come home, and yeah, I’d like to have some space of my own too.” Jim nodded. “And I want you.”

“You can’t have me, Tiger, but I can have you… and that’s better.”

Jim reached a hand up and petted his cheek, and then slid his hand down Sebastian’s neck to his shoulder. He pressed gently and Sebastian went to his knees. He leaned into Jim.

“So, Tiger… Do you belong to me?”

_If you really belong to me, you’d never imagine trying to leave, much less hurt me._

_If you come back, it’s forever._

“Absolutely,” Sebastian sighed and turned his head into Jim’s hand.

“There’s my good Tiger… Come on, then, the bed in this flat is made up, too. We’ll have a bit of dessert and then we’ll go stretch your claws into that nasty little man in the basement.”

Jim tugged him to his feet, and Sebastian followed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone has enjoyed this story. Some day i might tell a few bits and pieces more in their history, but allowing for Sebastian being a somewhat unreliable narrator this is how he went from being Sebastian Moran, to Jim Moriarty's Tiger.  
> fin

**Author's Note:**

> My husband usually proof reads to catch spelling and other errors. my apologies but he has been ill, and we have both been very busy. In addition one of our dearly loved pets suddenly became ill, and had to be put to sleep. no one in the household is doing well. this was written over 17 days, and not enough sleep.


End file.
